First and foremost, I’d like to offer a correction. Please excuse the pun; in fact, excuse all of them, for The Corrections are possibly the most self-referential band since The Music.
I would like to draw attention to the album’s accompanying publicity; this is usually a good way to judge a band. Apparently they sound like Radiohead. Any band which attempts to place themselves amongst the musical heights of the deity which is Thom Yorke is either mad or genius.
Unfortunately for The Corrections, their latest album, Repeat After Me is nothing but a non-directional copy (or poor repetition) of Radiohead’s earlier work. In this respect, either they or their publicity team have failed horribly.
But perhaps I’m being too harsh. Let’s go on the assumption that their PR team were just horribly mislead. Perhaps they hadn’t listened to the album. So, publicity aside, let us judge The Corrections on their own terms.
The album starts fairly strongly – ambience drifts smoothly through the stereo. It’s even quite good music to write essays or music reviews to. I was encouraged. The sun was shining and I’d finished my translation. Things were looking up, both for me and The Corrections. Not a single error to be corrected, ironically.
Sadly, this façade did not last long enough. I had drifted off in a post-work stupor, and re-awoke with the belief that I’d accidently pushed the repeat button on iTunes. I was mistaken.
It was then that the horrible truth dawned upon me. Everything on this album sounds the same. It’s one big Catch-22 of self-referentiality.
Repeat After Me, The Corrections – everything is conspiring against the artistic success of this band. My advice – get a new sound, get a new name and get your PR people to understand your artistic direction. ‘Radiohead’? Better luck next time.
Two stars
