The Duke Spirit - Neptune
Duped Spirit
The garage rock revival has been infiltrating radio waves for the past ten years after a flourish of “The” bands hit the scene. Many groups since have jumped on the bandwagon, but most have done little justice. The Duke Spirit, despite their 2006 hype machine Cuts Across the Land offering a short lived ‘the’ identity, is of the latter sort with their poppy danceable follow up Neptune.
Neptune definitely has some diversion merit to it; however as a whole it’s still a letdown. Starting off fierce with tracks like ‘Send a Love Token’ and ‘Into the Fold’; by midway through the album plummets into Boresville. Duke Spirit’s roots in garage rock are evident throughout with their punchy drum beats and strong bass lines while their musical arrangements mix together nicely, but it’s something we’ve all heard before. Neptune feels like Duke Spirit was trying to make an accessible version of more progressive garage band’s formulas. But its unstable blueprint often results in mid song collapses. It’s easy to see how such a strong start can mean nothing when bookend with ‘Sovereign’ in which all sense of fierceness is lost in the dreary waltz-like beat.
Silver-lining lead singer Liela Moss may just be the band’s saving grace and also their blight. Her voice, a blend of Karen O and Shirley Manson, carries much of the band’s dead weight. But as striking as her sultry, smoky vocal stylings are, Moss lacks the drawing power for a female-fronted band. Not that all frontwomen need crazy spandex get-ups or pseudo-dominatrix boots to make it but her vocal charisma, as unique as it may be, isn’t enough to engage listeners.
Neptune’s a cleaner version of their debut with some punchy numbers and wailing vocals. And there is little that fails here. But there’s nothing too special to say about it either. There’s hardly anything said that serves more than a passing commentary and even less complication to make it anything more than simple rock.
Amy Dittmeier
