Album review: Django Django – Django Django
Three years in the making, the highly anticipated debut from Django Django finally saw the light of day this week, and it’s quite a revelation. Usually bedroom recordings are, by definition, lo-fi efforts record by lonely geeks and frequently follow a long and torturous folk road, but with its high production values and total lack of acoustic instruments, this self-titled album couldn’t be further from that if it tried. Describing their sound is something that many people (including the band themselves) have failed and I don’t expect I’ll get any closer. However, I will say that vocally there’s a touch of the Beach Boys (frequently the band all sing in unison) and the synths and guitars generally take a back seat in favour of the drums and occasional handclaps.
The result is splendid psychedelic pop that even I, with my two left feet, could manage to dance to. Lyrically they’re quite smart too, the songs littered with clever little couplets ‘you gave it all you/what you’ve got is not a lot’ and ‘take one for the team/you’re a cog in the machine’ – ‘Default’. If there was any criticism it would be that some of the sound effects are a little superfluous but after three years working out of a bedroom the band probably went a little stir crazy so we’ll forgive them for that.
The band might have taken three years to record ‘Django Django’, but you can hear the love and attention that has gone into each and every one of the 13 tracks and the result is a near perfect album. 9/10
Mark Cousens
Django Django is out now on Because Music
Listen to ‘Waveforms’ from the album:
