Ten New Messages should be ignored

The Rakes forsake simplicity and fumble with politics.

By Jordan Sargent

Published April 24, 2007

As musical lore goes, album No. 2 is always the catch-22, and that catch-22 has got our favorite contemporary British bands firmly in its clamps.

A quick rundown: The Futureheads' follow-up to their raucous punks-in-a-barbershop debut? Bland, dreary and stale as four-year-old bread. Bloc Party's second effort at Gang of Four-baiting, vaguely political dance floor stompers? Less Gang of Four, less dance floor and more politics (but excellent nonetheless). Maxïmo Park's new album? The jury's still out, but it's more serious, more somber and less fun. The next chapter in the Arctic Monkeys' world domination? Ten pounds of jadedness in a five-pound bag. Lagging behind in this second-album relay race are London's The Rakes. Their debut album, Capture/Release, is an oft-overlooked update on Wire's Pink Flag, an album powered by simple hooks and simpler guitar work.

But it worked for these guys. At the very least, they carved a niche out for themselves among all the music coming out of their homeland. At best, they created a mini-cult bout of fandom.

Capture/Release's first single, "Strasbourg," is still one of the most invigorating songs to emerge out of Britain in the past few years. It exudes palpable energy and force and flaunts the band's intrinsic ability to turn punky rave-ups into great pop songs.

The problem with Ten New Messages is that all that energy and force is nearly gone. The songs are, as the title says, 10 new messages, with the emphasis on messages.

Messages aren't The Rakes game. Singer/songwriter Alan Donohoe painted an insiders take of a workingman's life in London with why-didn't-I-think-of-that easy writing: "Walk home, come down, retreat, to sleep/ Wake up, go out, again, repeat."

There's none of that recognized simplicity here, and the band fumbles over trying to be (groan) serious. The biggest offender is "Suspicious Eyes," which is a rap-rock amalgam addressing racial profiling. It's a decent enough and commendable idea in theory, but it's pulled off sloppily and rather embarrassingly here. Both the band and its guests fumble over the subject matter, and the outcome are lines like, "These people are assuming who I am, but they're wrong/ Got a beard and a bag so they think I got a bomb."

"When Tom Cruise Cries" is almost a defter take on social commentary. The song succeeds with a bit of satire and a more worthy subject. Story goes as follows: Something is wrong in the city, and Donohoe doesn't know if his girl is OK. CNN shows Tom Cruise crying. I appreciate any swipe at network news, but that's what The Daily Show is for.

On the bright(er) side, "Little Superstitions" is a near-perfect update of the song's on Capture/Release. Donohoe's voice is pushed to the forefront, and the rhythm section and guitars glide breezily from verse to hook. It's about as straightforward as a pop-rock song comes, but The Rakes do this kind of thing effortlessly. If they had remembered that, we might be looking at a rewarding second album rather than a decidedly puzzling and disappointing one.

The only hope here is that this is a phase — one that this band will ultimately grow out of. Their pop chops are still apparent here in glimpses ("We Danced Together" is a beautiful exercise in growth), and the guitar work is still as spidery and jagged as ever.

Problem is, social commentary is not their thing, and so Ten New Messages shouldn't be yours.