Foreign Office, a four-piece based in East London, have clearly shaken off the winter gloom already. Give their first 7" release, 'Leaving The House', a listen and you'd be forgiven for thinking summer was already upon us; its soulful pop warming parts of my body i thought had frozen off a month ago.
'Leaving The House' recalls the arty-quirkiness of New Wave legends Talking Heads, the punk-funk fusion of Ian Dury and The Blockheads, add a hint of glitchy electronica akin to Hot Chip and you're about close to what Foreign Office are all about.
Paul's driving, rythmic bass lines anchor the song throughout, leaving guitarist George free to add soulful licks when the bass becomes less prominent. So instead of a guitar-heavy indie-pop single, Foreign Office have layered the sound in which they are clearly most comfortable, stripping it down to minimal beats and built it back up again with near-robotic precision.
Whilst on one level Foreign Office excel at punk-funk with hints of classic blues and soul, the sound is instantly brought up-to-date with the inclusion of some well produced electronics courtesy of keys player Duncan, his programming coupled with the almost metronomic beats of drummer James adds an extra dimension to both Paul and George's more classic guitar sounds.
Given that the popularity of Stateside intelligent-pop bands like Vampire Weekend and The Drums has grown significantly over the past few years its good to hear that bubbling in the U.K. underground there are pockets of artists pushing to produce records that don't just imitate scenes that have come and gone. And if the boys in Foreign Office continue to produce singles of this calibre they'll sonn be giving our U.S. cousins a run for their money.
M. Hewitt 05/01/10
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