April 27, 2000

London Camden Monarch

Right now, their chances don't look terribly good...

This is the London debut for ex-Ride frontman Mark Gardener's new band The Animalhouse, and scores of people are being turned away at the door. For Electrelane - trying to capture the attention of an impatient crowd with their artful, Stereolab-esque electronica - it's a tough gig.

Electrelane are four young ladies from Brighton who excel in the creation of layered, introspective soundscapes redolent both of coffee-house jazz and the stern post-rock of Billie Mahonie. They sing only occasionally, adding filaments of harmony to their dizzying keyboard-heavy digressions and, wonderfully, display an unexpected predilection for hard-edged, metal-derived riffs. If the audience were paying attention, they might have discovered a more inventive and genuinely interesting band than the headline attraction.

The Animalhouse have the flashy, practised air of slick professionalism, but there's something uncomfortably soulless about their easy effervescence. Mark Gardener, older and balder than in his Ride days, trades vocals with former Supergrass producer Sam Williams, throwing enthusiastic, exaggerated shapes and attempting to whip their unconvincing castaway Britpop into something more dynamic. However, like their first two singles 'Small' and 'Animal', most of The Animalhouse's set would sound more at home in 1995, and you can't help but wonder if this really is the best they can deliver.

Here, sadly, is a group aware that they are battling time, and if there's any real passion involved it seems to stem from desperation rather than inspiration. Right now, their chances don't look terribly good.