Review – The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You

Passive Me, Aggressive You, the debut album from The Naked and Famous came out last year, and wasn’t particularly on my radar at the time. After hearing good things about them, mostly on daytime radio (ahem, Fearne Cotton, I’m looking at you), I thought I would check them out, and give their debut a spin.

Being labelled a “rock band” is probably not a very accurate tag in all honesty, as these new kids on the scene from Auckland, New Zealand don’t have a lot going for them in terms of rock songs. Their album comes over somewhat as a mash-up of indie rock and electro/synthesiser knob twiddling, with a latent pop streak thrown in for good measure. In places it has a real retro feel to the album, and does have an underlying sense of 1980’s pop sensibilities throughout.

It starts well, with All of This, and Punching In A Dream not sounding too bad at all. I thought I was on to something, and was hopeful for another album that captivated me as much as Neon Tree’s debut “Habits” did recently. Where that album continued with great songs though across the album, this release seems to wane off after the opening tracks, and then everything just sort of mashes itself together and becomes redundant and a little lost in the process.

Devoid of memorable moments, the more I listened, the more this album started to sound as though it was treading a path of mediocrity, and while some will lap it up, it didn’t do anything for me at all in the end. A Wolf In Geek’s Clothing was the only other song on the album that I found standing out, and everything else just sounds dirgy in comparison. That track has some great ideas in it, and has a muscular and angular alt-rock styling which sounds monstrously heavy in place. More of that would have been great, but as soon as that comes, it goes again, with the middle-of-the-road electro indie coming back like a bad, unwanted smell.

The interchange of male and female vocals also tangles itself up in places, and fails to set this release apart from the pack of indie rock nearly-men (and women).

I was a little disappointed with this considering how well it started, and it could have been so much more. It may require more than one casual listen to really understand and appreciate it, but on the basis of what I heard, whether that will be enough to entice me into putting this on again, is yet to be seen.

3/10