ACTION ACTION - Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion

Action Action - Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion

13 songs
50:19 minutes
***** *****
Victory

Bandpage

Action Action are a relatively new band formed by people who (used to) play with the Reunion Show and Count The Stars, two of the better recent emo softcore bands. No need to be afraid though, as they are not trying to repeat the styles of their other bands. The disgusting cover in neon green and blinding pink colours may work as a warning sign, because Action Action have delved deep in the musical past of the 70s and 80s, leaving their rock and punk roots aside and going instead for heavy use of synths, organs, loops and the occasional sequencer, Wurlitzer and even decent mellotron on Let's Never Go To Sleep.

Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion is a strange album, to say the least, beginning with a first instance of the title track, brought initially with synths reminding of Gary Numan, until the second half is enriched by guitars. In the end, the title track is repeated in a more rocking fashion, but still with plenty of well developed keyboard sounds. The second song, Druk Like, fares no different, with the synths not only used as an effect, but as the principal instrument, with lots of bubbling effects, displaying what we loved or hated, depending on who we are, in the 80s. Never as extreme as Devo used to be, Action Action prefer to flirt with the New Romanticism of that era, combining it with your best American arena rock, a genre that never really flourished in Europe. A perfect example would be the hymnic Photograph, sounding like a collaboration between Weezer and the Cars. Instructions On Building A Model Airplane is one of the rare moments where the guys show their punk origins. Four Piece Jigsaw Puzzle is an ultra-mellow ballad, carried by acoustic guitar and electric piano.

It's clear from the beginning that this is supposed to be a very special album, produced by William Wittman, former collaborator of 80s icon Cyndi Lauper. Not every song is an instant classic, but there is a fair share of perfect pop anthems you normally only get from Weezer and Nada Surf, and the combination of guitar rock and synth pop never seems awkward, but rather as the perfect combination of two worlds that were long enough separated. Don't Cut Your Fabric is maybe not a classic yet, but it's aspiring to greatness, a feat only few albums can claim for themselves these days, and this deserves a maximum rating.

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