Wake The President - You Can't Change That Boy (Album)

Electric Honey Records

March 9, 2009, 04:39 PM

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You sometimes have to wonder how Scotland can continue to churn out bands who so seamlessly can hit the pop heartstrings. Over the last 30 years there has been a steady stream of acts from pretty much anybody on Postcard Records through to Belle & Sebastian and now onto the latest batch of acts that include Glasgow's Wake The President who embody all the traits the finest pop has to offer and of course by pop I don't mean a semi-naked girl who can't sing but sure can dance, no I mean the sort of pop that jangles and shimmers and has lyrics that are innocent yet hint at a tease of sauciness and debauchery.

Wake The President are described on their MySpace as follows, lyrically "songs of masturbatory melancholia move from optimism to despair, querying the existence of love but acknowledging the omnipresence of desire." and musically "Erik's witty commentary is scrawled, his guitar-playing channelling the clang of C86, the fury of Josef K and the jangle of Johnny Marr. Underneath this thunder, Mark and Scott provide louche basslines and drums that sound like they could lead an army to battle." now I've stolen those quotes simply because I don't think I could sum them up any better myself without just referring to those statements.

And so debut album You Can't Change That Boy arrives freshly recorded in Chem19 by Paul Savage and released on Stow College's student run label Electric Honey Records (more on this later) which all adds up to a fairly loose album that's immediately likeable and whilst not sounding fresh there's just something instantly charming about Wake The President be it the immediacy of 'Professor' with it's onslaught of guitars or the sublime poppery (is that a word?) of 'Miss Tierney' all condensed into perfect 3 minute blasts of iridescent gems.

Now I want to refer back to the student label thing and particularly for 'Wake' which seemed instantly recognisable to me but I couldn't place why, now this was bugging me the track is all mellow vocals and guitars but wasn't how I remembered it. Then it hit me I was at Stow College and had actually remixed an early version of this track about 3 years ago I didn't recognise it because my version was full of little effects that glistened throughout but the vocals and lyrics are still the same - a nice moment for me anyway! I have digressed so back to the album.

Title track 'You Can't Change That Boy' is musically over-powering of the vocals until the somewhat baffling chorus of "Bashful extrordinaire, bashful extrordinaire/Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle" all set to some very Marr reminiscent guitar hooks. This leads onto album highlight 'Remember Fun?' that is like a dose of puff candy directly into your veins making you feel incandescent with sweetness it's a trait that Wake The President pull of endlessly and with aplomb. 'The Security Place' is a growing mix of Scottish harmonies and fine lyrical couplets that passes over to the deceiving stomp of 'Give Me Two Secs'' before ending as so many nights in Glasgow do (as some folk are led to believe!) in 'A & E' that's the longest track on offer here at over 6 minutes but certainly doesn't out stay it's welcome by being a much more laid-back, gentle affair.

It's a perfectly pitched debut album of pop tracks that simply adds to the folklore of Scottish pop bands, they have joined that esteemed canon of music in one single step with You Can't Change That Boy so let's see what Wake The President can deliver in the future, I certainly wouldn't mind more of the same.

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