The Chap, Mega Breakfast
For those who like their indie knowing, playful and subversive, the Chap is tasty stuff indeed.
"Nothing new under the sun" we're often told, but the Chap — an arty and sardonic quartet from North London — squeeze undeniable freshness from the sum of their influences. This, their third album, joins the dots between Sonic Youth, Múm, electronica aces Matmos and quintessentially English bands such as Black Box Recorder. It's an odd mix that together with the subject matter of their knowing, dryly mocking lyrics sets the Chap apart.
The mores of the music business and the biases and pretences of its insiders have been fair game since the group's second album, Ham. This time out, too, you sense that certain out-of-touch or cooler-than-thou individuals are being parodied. “Fun & Interesting” could be read as an A&R's man's patronising dismissal of the kind of left-field, non-formulaic pop that the Chap do so well, while “I Saw Them” — ostensibly an account of seeing some unspecified band at various London venues before that band became famous — seems aware that some who claim to have seen the nascent Nirvana or whoever may be fibbing.
Musically speaking, too, Mega Breakfast surprises and wrong-foots. Ruler-twang noises and a coolly crazed chorus are factored into "Carlos, Walter, Wendy, Stanley"; “Surgery” deals in crisp, light funk, and “Caution Me” serves up atonal, but wonderfully hooky guitar motifs. With the multi-instrumentalist skills of Johannes Von Weizsacker and Panos Ghikas including cello and violin respectively, there is also an understated chamber-pop element at play. Crucially, though, it's been manipulated and re-configured via deft computer programming. This lot rarely do things by the book.
In summary, Mega Breakfast is a bona fide envelope pusher that juxtaposes pure pop savvy with more enigmatic and at times slightly disorientating fair. For those who like their indie knowing, playful and subversive, it's tasty stuff indeed.
