Style: Avant-garde prog rock (mixed vocals)
Review by: Will
Country: Ireland
Release date: 12 March 2021
City Weezle introduce their new album, No. 2, on their bandcamp page, saying: “The goal of this Album is to keep you entertained with a fun, sharing, abundant and giving energy.” They also inform us that: “to understand the meaning of the title one only has to refence [sic] peepee as No.1.”. Not only does this give us a disturbing notion of what the Weasel on the album art is hiding under that cloche, it gives us a real sense of what is to come with this album: Irreverent, immature and madder than a box of frogs (or weasels).
No. 2 is a hard album to pin down: it’s avant garde, it’s satire, it defies genre by performing every genre, whiplashing between musical styles faster than James McAvoy switching personalities in Split. Aside from the rapidly changing music, there are skits interspersed into the music (such as arguing mobsters in “Cluedo”). Audio excerpts from film and TV punctuate certain songs for added texture such as in ‘Even Weezles Get The Blues’ which features a line from Tales from the Crypt. The overall effect is a demented theatre production caught on tape rather than an album. But, pervading the whole album is the unavoidable sense that the band is having an absolute whale of a time with it.
Simon Fleury’s vocal performance is particularly charismatic, his range spanning from growling blues-hound, through Serj Tankien avant-garde extravagance, to Mark Hamill’s Joker. The vocals are ably backed up by some excellent musicianship from the band with Kengo Mochizuki on Bass, Axel Steinbiss on keys and Ai Uchida somehow keeping everybody in time on drums. There’s a mind-bending eleven extra contributing artists helping to pack everything but the kitchen sink into this album. There’s harpsichords, organs, sax and ‘Electronic Magic’ from Gautier Serre of Igorr fame (who also did a phenomenal job wrangling all the disparate elements of this album into an incredibly clean mix).
This ritalin-induced-fever-dream of an album can be broadly divided into two halves. The first ‘European side’ critiques classist society, colonialism, white supremacy, religion and more through biting sarcasm. For example ‘The Underground in Europe’ the king proclaims: “My knights in shining armor will protect the common farmer from tribal attacks (as long as he pays tax)” . The second “American” half switches up to comment on modern society. It’s somewhat more approachable with songs that show City Weezle’s influences such as The Melvins. Songs like ‘She’s a Stomper’ and ‘Even Weezles Get The Blues’ follow relatively more traditional song structure (emphasis on “relatively” – this is still City Weezle we’re talking about). The album is rounded off by the completely bonkers ‘Cluedo’ (That’s ‘Clue’ for North American readers) featuring mobster skits in the middle of the song and a murder mystery in the lyrics.
It’s genuinely impressive how many musical styles, tempo and time signature changes that City Weezle can pack into a single song. ‘Underground in Europe’ jackknifes from harpsichord-led waltzes through punk to metal and ends in an aping of Catholic liturgy with a church organ backing. That said, the sheer number of changes and the breakneck speed with which they happen can be downright exhausting. The fantastic Bhangra-styled instrumental ‘Crimson Jig’ seems designed to break up the “European” and “American” sides of the album and also provide the listener a breather from the onslaught, like the eye of a storm. However, ‘Crimson Jig’ is just as frenetic as the rest of the album and the constant tempo-changes keep the listener feeling off-kilter for the duration, further compounding the listener’s exhaustion.
There are some mild elements of shock-rock on the ‘American Side’ of the album that one might normally associate with some of System of a Down’s songs or, indeed, Tool’s ‘Stinkfist’. ‘She’s a Stomper’ (which graphically describes prostitute turning tricks) could be read as metaphor for humanity’s relationship to the environment, Weezle’s attempt to hold a no-frills mirror to society, or as a song about being “fucked” by life. Reaching to the band, Simon Fleury confirmed the latter reading to be the band’s intention. The sudden transition to more ambiguous lyrics on the ‘American’ side of the album is a little jarring, especially after listening to the ‘European’ side where the social critique of the lyrics are pretty on-the-nose. The odd wording choices continue with songs like ‘Eskimo Pie’ (incidentally the most infectious earworm), which is potentially named for a confection which last year announced that it would be changing its name to Edy’s Pie, no longer deeming the term “Eskimo” appropriate.
It’s possible that the ambiguity on the “American Side”of the album is a deliberate choice of City Weezle. It’s certainly a bold choice to fly close to the wind in a social climate that often eschews good faith interpretations of artistic works or denies opportunity for ambiguity entirely. It’s respectable that City Weezle seems willing to trust its audience to interact with and interpret their work for themselves. On their bandcamp page, the band actively encourages listeners to read the lyrics – encouraging listeners to take part in the work for themselves.
There are some fantastic moments in this album. The eclectic stylings are fascinating and a wonderful reference to the band itself being well-travelled and international. Their fascination with religion both in the traditional organ-led liturgies of Europe and in the fiery, charismatic TV-preachings of America is somehow deeply alluring. The deciding factor of whether this album is for you is whether you can keep up with City Weezle’s frantic pace. If you can and you love satire and avant-garde bizarreness, then this might just end up being your new cult classic album; just be sure to have an energy drink (or three) before you spin it up; as City Weezle say themselves: “Balls out! Caution to the Wind!”
As for me: I need a lie down.
Recommended tracks: “Captain Introspective”, “She’s a Stomper”, “Eskimo Pie” (Though it’s recommended you listen to it all in context)
Recommended for fans of: Igorr, Captain Beefheart, System of a Down, Frank Zappa, The Melvins
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Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter |
Label: Self Released
City Weezle is:
– Simon “The Vocal Viking” Fleury (Guitars,Vocals,Banjo,Arrangement and baby screams)
– Kengo “The Bass Samuri” Mochizuki (Bass)
– Axel “Wunderkind” Steinbiss (Keys)
– Ai “The Drum Ninja” Uchida (drums)
Contributing artists on this album:
CSL Parker: Piano and arrangement on tracks 1,2,3 Harpsichord on track 2
Pierre Schmidt: Guitar on tracks 1,2,3,5,8
Tommy Buckley: Guitar solos on 4 and 8, Arrangement on 1 and 7
Pedro Lacasa and Jasmina Barra Vocals on 3
Etienne Gaillochet: Arrangement on 5
Patrick Dalton: Sax on 8
Richard Rudkins: Organ on 2 and 3
Gael Leprince Caetano: Percussion on 3 and 4
Gautier Serre: Electro Magic on 8
Hamish brewster: Additional recording
Benoit Vibes: Silence on 8
Additional Engineering: Sylvain Cloux
Additional Engineering: Eric Carrere
Additional Engineering: Kengo Mochzuki
Cover art: David Legouguec www.instagram.com/davidlegouguec/
Colin Bolger: Illustrations for 3,4 and 8 www.dabulgadesign.com
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