Captain 'This Is Hazelville'
Captain aren’t cool. Cool is not a word in their vocabulary. They’re post-cool. Sure, their glittering sonics draw on 4AD types like The Pixies and the Cocteau Twins, but the cooing duets of Rik Flynn and Clare Szembek call to mind the everyman appeal of The Beautiful South.
Captain will make couples hug at festivals; their CD will be passed around at dinner parties; people in love with each other will have sex whilst this plays in the background. No wonder EMI are investing heavily – Captain are a cute little goldmine.
Formed around be-hatted lead singer Rik Flynn (previously of late-90s also-rans The Junket) and co-singer/keyboardist Clare Szembek, who has lent her vocals to numerous underground dance acts, Captain are tasteful, sweet-sounding and - dare we say it – slightly cheesy. ‘This Is HazeIville’ also sees a rare outing for producer Trevor Horn, he of the big, big Frankie Goes To Hollywood sound – a man who knows his way around a mixing desk.
Whilst their live performances have an air of unbearable smugness, on record Captain are a pleasurable if often bland experience. Their high-rise moments – the peaking ‘Glorious’, the show tune romp of ‘This Heart Keeps Beating For Me’ – offer a dizzying blend of girly drama, harmonics and soaring synth lines. Possibly guilty pleasures for anyone under the age of 30, but pleasures all the same. Mystifying lyrics lift the band out of the realm of the banal.
But too often they occupy the middle-ground. Maybe it’s because I’m not cuddling anyone as I write this, but I’m left cold by the insipid wash of ‘East, West, North, South’, a veritable watercolour painting of a song. ‘Frontline’, their first single, is so tentative it apologises as it enters your ears. At their worst, Captain sound like the kind of stuff yuppies would have stuck on before they tried to rut each other.
A shame, because when they add some meat to the bone they seduce even the most hardened cynic - the wistful charm of ‘Western High’ is given extra flavour with throbbing parps of bass and a wicked little descending guitar line. And the closer, ‘Accidie’ says goodbye with a right rollocking BIG MASSIVE OUTRO of squealing horns and a riff that Johnny Greenwood could have been saving for his next solo album. At such times, Captain’s candy floss is suddenly infected with listeria. And that can only be a good thing.
Captain 'This Is Hazelville' (EMI) Released August 14 2006.
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