Review: Origami Angel - GAMI GANG
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| Label: Counter Intuitive Records |
I gotta admit that I didn't have the chance to check out ORIGAMI ANGEL's back catalogue, so they possibly hit me way too cold but yeah... this record really IS all over the place! The Washington D.C.-outfit is part of the New Wave of Emo along bands like NIIICE., KHAKI CUFFS, OOLONG or TINY MOVING PARTS, just to name an act that is longer in the game. Yeah, it's that kind of happy-go-lucky, hyper-nervous, half-mathy, half-ultra-catchy'n'cute sort of Emo that became popular when ALGERNON CADWALLADER garnered some attention.
Honestly, I'm not too high on that sound. I was down with the first ALGERNON-album when it came out and I definitely like some early TINY MOVING PARTS-tracks, but what came afterwards was probably a little bit too cool for me or I'm just getting too old yet again. At first, it was hard for me to get the feeling of this record. Maybe it's too much. Too much of everything. And too much of that CAP'N JAZZ-nervousness that turns me off in a hurry. Just to throw another rock at the monument of Emo: I'm probably the only Emo-listener on this sad planet that doesn't like Burritos and Banana Peels. Then again, what the hell are we talking about? "GAMI GANG" is way more original than everything CAP'N JAZZ ever recorded! No doubt, I'm playing with emotional fire now. In defense of the genre: I still love "Never meant", i really do...
What's kind of impressive is that ORIGAMI ANGEL consists of two guys and you really don't hear that. What they lack in man-power they more than make up for with creativity and energy. At heart the duo plays fast and catchy Pop-Punk, with cute vocals and songs that just barely reach the 3-minute-mark. They couple that sort of style with heavy Emo-aesthetics, some Math-Rock-noodling here and there, bits of destructive Postcore and most importantly a wildly open mind. That's what really shines through on this record. It's the kind of madness that is just missing in HC/Punk nowadays. The kind of madness that was so entertaining in the noughties and brought us bands like THE FALL OF TROY or THE BLOOD BROTHERS.
ORIGAMI ANGEL don't take themselves all too seriously and that's why they just slip through with everything they do. Stuff like the metallic breakdown in "Neutrogena Spektor" would feel awkward more likely than not, but here, it's just pure and utter fun. They switch to an acoustic ballad in the form of "Greenbelt Station" and guess what? It works. It gets even better as that Swing-Part in "Bossa Nova Corps" is just classy. ORIGAMI ANGEL have so much creativity in their little heads, other bands would've produced 3 or 4 albums out of all those ideas. And hell yeah, they know how to write some catchy and punchy Pop-Punk-anthems. This album really took some time to grow on me, but spin after spin I came to like one more and one more and one more song and now there are not many songs left that I don't like. My starting point was "Footloose Cannonball Brothers" (the third to last song!!!), which just might be the most beautiful song of the year. Did I mention the lyrics? Yeah, sure, a bit juvenil and stuff, but just oh so memorable and fun to sing along to.
This album pretty much overcame every possible bias on my terms. I can't stand most of the New-Wave of Emo. I'm having a hard time with all too cute vocals. And more often then not I get the feeling of constraint, when a band mixes up too many styles. But... I pretty much love this album now and I think it just might be a classic in the making...
With all that said, what REALLY freaking kills my understanding is that "GAMI GANG" is entertaining throughout. What immediatley troubled me before even listening once was that runtime of 51 minutes. There really is no need for any (Pop-/Emo-)Punk-Album to be that lengthy and 9.9 out of 10 times it just fucking bores me. ORIGAMI ANGEL wrote just as many great songs that it never gets boring and the flow of the album is really sweet on top of that. It starts solid but not overwhelming, which is a good thing, as this is not ofen the case with millions of frontloaded albums in the history of music. The two-piece gets really going with the fifth song "Isopropyl Alchemy" and from there on they stick to their guns, delivering awesome hook after awesome hook, sing-a-long after sing-a-long, sick idea after sick idea. And then they dare to throw in a line at the closer that goes like this: "I still got lots of things to say, but it looks like we're running out of time...". So, yeah, count me in that motherfucking GAMI GANG, already...!
Rating: 9 out of 10
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