Oxford Collapse
Remember The Night Parties
Sub Pop


The genre 'indie' is like few others; its diversity is simply ridiculous. If I say that a band sounds 'indie' does that mean it's in the vicinity of the intense indie guitar sounds of Fugazi or is it like the whimsical indie pop sounds of Darren Hanlon? Well, Oxford Collapse is more in the vein of Australian indie types like Dappled Cities Fly and Gaslight Radio. One of their most characteristic and impressive songs is their brilliantly-named single Please Visit Your National Parks. It is resplendent with an overpowering wall of guitar noodling, which is catchy yet slightly irksome, and the dual vocals of the chorus are simply cool.

'Remember The Night Parties' is not easy listening, it rocks but the strained vocal stylings become tedious at times. Even their more straight-up moments like Loser City turn unconventional with a random change of pace towards the end of the song. For The Khakis And The Sweatshirt basks in the glory of unorthodox drumming and classic indie clean guitar but the falsetto falls flat. The catchy Let's Vanish definitely draws some difficult-to-define inspiration from British music but, if they could write more songs as convincing as this, they'd be hard to stop. The opening vocal power and rich imagery of Molasses is reminiscent of Archers Of Loaf but the following quirky use of recorder lines them more up the allies of Architecture In Helsinki.

Oxford Collapse won't be changing the world with 'Remember The Night Parties' but they will add their name to the list of decent indie bands floating around the globe.

Scott Berry