Album Review - Red Monroe “Policia! Polica!”

Indie music is such a tricky thing to approach these days. I’m not sure if it’s all gone horribly wrong for young white men and their guitars or whether I’ve grown out of it. It may well be a bit of both. With that, it’s with a bit of fear that I approach Red Monroe’s Policia! Policia! LP (out now).
As a fan of all kinds of obscure sixties music, I noticed that this LP was going to contain elements of garage punk and psychedelia. However, having heard some of Red Monroe’s previous releases some time ago, I couldn’t be sure if this was a case of adding the right buzz words to prick up the ears of record collectors or, God forbid, actually true. So… what is this album like?

As indie albums go, this Red Monroe cut is marginally ahead of quite a few of its peers. If there is a garage punk element, it’s there in noisy guitars that occasionally veer off into noise. That said, the guitars always feel like they are controlled and somewhat conservative in approach. If you think that Babyshambles have a garage edge, then this album will blow your mind. If you are a fan of The Sonics and MC5, then this album is weaker than a baby’s gurgle.
That’s not to say the LP is without merit. Tracks like Midnight Rites and Sunday Papers are pleasantly noisy and rowdy. However, as is the curse of many modern guitar bands, the sound is reigned in and snazzed up with pointless electronics that only serve to make a hardworking record sound gimmicky and cheap.
The title track of the album is indicative of the problems faced by Red Monroe. It has the right moves of twangy guitar. However, in an attempt to throw loads of ideas into the pot, instead of coming out like eccentric sixties crackpots like Skip Spence and Brian Wilson, you get something that sounds like the loathsome Cardiacs. Basically, it means getting a perfectly good song and booting it until it is all so clever-clever that any notion of spontaneity vanishes.
All in all, this is an album that will be favoured by fans of indie music a little sharper and cleverer than your run of the mill fodder… but really, it’s nothing to write home about. It’s a shame this album was such a let down as I was really in the mood for breaking a new band to you.
Click here to buy Red Monroe’s Policia Policia Policia LP.