Intercooler - Dance Of AThousand Promises

Mon 31st Jan, 2005 in Music Reviews

If there was a Brisbane award for Guitar Pop Darlings, Intercooler would win hands down. Having secured its live status over the past few years touring with The Casanovas, Peabody and Screamfeeder, and supporting The Buzzcocks and J Mascis, Intercooler seems to be making the slower climb to notoriety. Also having played the Big Day Out and Livid in 2003, the band shot over to the US to support a couple of local, virtually unknown bands called the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Queens of the Stone Age.

As the incestuous nature of Brisbane’s music scene demands, Intercooler has poached Screamfeeder touring guitarist Darek Mudge, after original guitarist Michael Caso was unable to tour further. Intercooler recently released Dance Of A Thousand Promises to showcase some of the already road-tested material waiting for recording. 

Opener Lovin’ and Leavin’ is a perfect amalgamation of styles, borrowing Beach Boys vocal harmonies, Kinks-style pop structure and the earnestness of Even. Ironically, it’s a song about the transience of music, particularly peoples’ transitions to new forms of equipment and styles. It’s catchy, it’s radio friendly, and it’s likely to be the next track to appear on the airwaves.

If I Try is delicately reserved, with breathy vocals, synthesised flourishes and a gently swaying rhythm. It’s a concoction hard not to be moved by. Phil Ballantyne’s vocals are heartbreaking and the harmonies blanketing his voice are gorgeously haunting. Twin melodic guitars work amazingly well together, and what seems like an inter-instrumental conversation is accentuated by carefully placed synth highlights. It’s an exquisite detour for the band.

It’s back into rock mode with Cream Puff, a no-holds-barred assault of riffs and hook-heavy vocal melody. It’s nowhere near as vulnerable as If I Try, with lyrics only venturing into areas of “Boys and girls, love, lust and springtime” (according to the press release), but it’s catchy as hell and is consequently being spun at Triple J.

It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what makes this EP step slightly left of typical pop-rock territory. Sugarplum is another example of the Intercooler knack for making a song slightly less predictable than the norm. It’s the random drum solo, the genuinely rock screams and grunts, the unexpected note here and there perhaps restrains the band from producing wallpaper guitar pop.

You’re Not Gonna Hurt Us Again sounds almost like a throwback to Rule OK era Dandy Warhols, but it’s slightly too monotonous to be satisfying. Verging on psychedelic, this stoner pop rock is a slight letdown after an otherwise highly infectious release. The instrumental at the end just has the feeling that the band have turned the volume knob to 11 in the hope that it will pull the song together, and the string-plucking following it seems just a little too forced.

The rest of the EP however, is a rather exciting sneak peek into what Intercooler has up its sleeve. If Dance Of A Thousand Promises is only a portion of the material they’ve accumulated while touring, the next long player is definitely something to watch out for.