What’s that old expression? Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer? Same applies here. Though their progressive/post-rock contemporaries may be more noteworthy in many respects, Enemies have nearly mastered the genre behind the backs of their inspirations. Going completely without vocals, Enemies rely on their expansive instrumental songwriting craft alone, utilizing two guitars (Eoin Whitfield, Lewis Jackson), one bass (Mark O’Brien) and a drum set (Oisin McMahon-Trench). Pretty basic, sure, but these motivated Irish folks are here to remind us that a hell of a lot can be done with traditional rock instruments. In this day and age of electronic-infused dance rock, Enemies skip the obvious trends and continue to make us dance anyway, without the help of synth tracks, turntables or MacBook Pros. It’s refreshing, to say the least. Enemies are blowing dust in the faces of all the stylish rock acts around them with pure instrumental know-how, in a way that is infectious and highly listenable.
Released on independent Irish label Richter Collective, We’ve Been Talking is as upbeat and toe-tapping as Minus the Bear and Celebration but has no use for hooky melodies—they do well enough without them, thank you very much. And they avoid the major pitfall that these other bands often succumb to: repetition. Enemies keep their listeners on their toes in more ways than one; while a good majority of their songs are dancey, they know a thing or two about the importance of polyrhythm and tempo change (see: “Backaches & Cardigans” and “Nag Champa”), and they experiment with structure with an almost unnatural ease.
While their jumpy, Foals-meet-Battles songs (“Nag Champa,” “Fierce Pit Bosses”) are more immediately appealing, they do have a heavier side. “Gingerly” has a gargantuan bass line that mountain climbs across the steep song structure. Album closer “Morse Code” builds then fades, then builds again, heavy and fast over the course of six-and-a- half minutes of tumultuous, Lateralus-sized rock. Title track “We’ve Been Talking” teases us with its pounding, unpredictable 7/8 timing. Alternating between time signatures is no big deal for Enemies; check out “Creamist” as it leaps from 9/8 to 6/8.
While We’ve Been Talking close to flawless in most respects, it will likely fall on deaf ears in many circles. Musicians and aficionados of the prog and post-rock genres will most likely go bonkers for this album, but I can only foresee it garnering a cult following, at most. Not that that’s anything to scoff at; most bands would kill for a cult following, and some bands flourish on the passionate monetary outpourings of their cult followers, touring non-stop to collect this fan or that, a handful at a time. This is what I hope for Enemies. They’re a solid band full of solid musicians who know how to shape a solid song/album, and that alone should do them well.
Track List:
1. Backaches & Cardigans
2. Nag Champa
3. Fierce Pit Bosses
4. Gabbi Gabby
5. Gingerly
6. We’ve Been Talking
7. Creamist
8. Piano
9. Morse Code
