The Ark: State of the Ark

The only thing now keeping total Scandanavian rock and roll domination in check is their tendency to seem a bit, oh, goofy. (How serious is a band with a song called “Hey Kwanongoma?”) The Ark - yet another glam-rock unit coming Straight Outta Ølmault, or Malmüüter, or some other place that will require extra keyboard tricks - are no exception.

On the cover, they look like escapees from a ’70s brainwashing cult - or like Duran Duran, or like escapees from a Duran Duran brainwash cult. From the first note, you get the sense of total commitment - this is a band that knows what it wants to do, and that is to make crisp dance-beat rock in the tradition of the Queen, Ok Go, or, if I have to say it, Abba.

This is how Upstairs at Eric’s would have turned out if Yaz had found some mood enhancers. This time the synthesizer is a happy synthesizer.

On the whole, State of the Ark is a bouncy, silly offering that won’t really stick with you, but it’s fun while it goes by. Their sound may start to wear on you by about “Girl You’re Gonna Get ‘Em (Real Soon)” which gives “Born in the USA” a run for its relentlessly repetitive money. But the next track, “Deliver Us From Free Will,” is an appealing rave-up with a percolating bassline and a vamping vocal to make Freddie Mercury proud.

The moody “No End” seems at first like a break in style, but the lyrics - “put away your purse…you can pay me back in kisses” – are pure Ark. I’m a lo-fi guy, so if someone with a homemade guitar records a song on an beat-up wax cylinder that they found in a dumpster, I usually think it’s brilliant. The Ark go the other way, with squeaky clean, super sharp production, and for the most part I say they should pat themselves on their white leisure-suited backs.

- Tom Vale
The Ark (EMI Music)