Elysian

Mudwig Bahnoff - You & The Atom Bomb

Only a few short years ago, Bristol, England quartet You & The Atom Bomb were a cover band. They admit this, unembarrassed, in a storyboarded bio on their record company's Web site (click "bands," then "You & Atom Bomb," then "visual biography"). After all, they were just kids and still kinda are. Which makes their first proper longish release (officially a "mini album") Shake Shake Hello?! all the more impressive.

You expect a young band to master perhaps three chords and a few catchy riffs. If they're any good, that is. What you don't expect is this kind of dizzying complexity--constantly shifting times and tempos, scattershot genre references and genuine drama played out in the tension between vocalists Suzi Gage and Jean-Marc de Verteuil. All this artiness (not to mention a tendency to toss off multisyllabics) doesn't preclude fun. The record's single, "Mudwig Bahnoff" is a giddy burst of post-punk exuberance, with fluttery keys, pummeled drums and a spacey guitar solo. Which is perfect, because the song's about that first crappy post-college apartment. You know the one? With the poor plumbing, thrift shop decor and unreachable slumlord. But whee! it's yours and it's heaven!

Shake Shake Hello?! is scheduled for release July 7 on Sink and Stove.

I've posted the band's earlier single "Velocipedes" before, but it's worth putting up again:

Velocipedes - You & The Atom Bomb

The band's Web site & Myspace.