Death of Fashion

Bands are getting bolder in their choices of names. Franz Ferdinand chose a significant name in history for their band, as to signify a new year 0 in the history of music. Death of Fashion – the latest music export from over the pond – use the name of a painting representing ‘the intersection between art and music’ as their music statement.

For their debut album ‘Hello Movement’, Death of Fashion add to the cliques of sex and drugs the fashionable trinity of ‘rock, art and cool’. The photo on the back cover of the album suggests the endorsement of the slick and smart chic look of Roxy Music. The sound suggests skilfully poised influences from both sides of the Atlantic.

‘The Sailor Song’ offers deep, languid yet energetic Jim Morrison-Nick Cave vocals, while ‘Lady Lust’ could easily pass for a Talking Heads song, with burlesque Byrne vocals and alluring angular bass lines. Nodding to the soft punk of The Strokes, ‘Come Alone’ is a thrilling sequence of guitar riffs to dance to and powerful yearns.
‘These Days’ embraces atmospheric Joy Division and Echo and The Bunnymen’s tones with upbeat keyboards, while ‘Jenny Says’ is a Velvet Underground’s ‘Loaded’ feast.

Sketched on an indie rock/punk canvas, ‘Hello Movement’ echoes musical reminiscences of 1970s Warhol’s New York with its bold and artfully refined spirit, but lacks of that originality necessary to spark off the cultural revolution the band has set off to achieve. But this should not be a major reason of concern. Most artists follow a movement before starting their own. And Death of Fashion are on the right direction, slowly approaching that intersection that breaths cool. - soundsxp webzine (uk)

While Death of Fashion may be trying to document/inspire a new art/music movement, they sure do kick off with a track in 'Sailor Song' that must have been spawned by Jim Morrison himself. Otherwise, it's US New York style garage rock, like only New Yorkers seem to be able to do. How come they all seem so bloody cool? I can't imagine someone penning and recording this album in Solihull.

While the lead vocalist's near toneless swagger definitely lends itself to the vibe of the music it does begin to get a bit tedious after half an hour. On the other hand, Jesse A Davis was thrown out of his own gig for an alleged 'suicide attempt' when he scaled a balcony during one of the songs. Dammit again - that is also pretty cool.
- Tasty fanzine (uk)

Don’t let the opening track put you off. This album is good. Dead good. Full of mesmerising, up beat songs, with syncopated guitar chords, off beat drumming and deep throaty vocals from lead singer Jesse A Davis, Death Of Fashion are new yet old at the same time.

The band come from Indiana USA and formed back in 2002. ‘Hello Movement’ is their second studio album and sounds like it should have been released back in the 70s. The group have been inspired by bands such as The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music and Brain Eno, and this vintage rock sound, coupled with absolutely cracking tunes, such as poppy ‘Smoke And Mirrors’ or ‘These
Days’ (a song which sounds like it should’ve been released by The Strokes instead), make ‘Hello Movement’ an album that’s definitely worth repeated listens. - Whisperin and Hollerin (uk)

New York’s Death Of Fashion certainly feed off the familiar lo-slung rattling indie of bands like The Strokes - also racking up plenty of trademarked, deep placed vocal lines. Death Of Fashion however keep things upbeat on “These Days”. Their form of guitar music picks up from where post New Romantic guitar bands began to mutate into something more sprightly and poppy, but dropping hints in the wake of something slightly gothic. Laced with a neat keyboard hookline, there’s the best sounds of early bands like B-Movie and the first stirrings of The Cures “Three Imaginary Boys”. There’s a lot of this stuff about, but Death Of Fashion try hard to make it interesting and for the best part, succeed. - Manchester Music (UK)

"Bertrand-biting neo-new-wave indie-rock. Death of Fashion have put together an album worth everyones time." - Village Voice

Dom Gourlay
Indiana foursome Death Of Fashion could just be the next step in Anglo-American relationship building or another slowly driven nail in the heart for alternative-cum-mainstream retrospective. I guess that decision is ultimately down to you. As for me, I'm going to go with the former...

...because it would have been easy to criticise Death Of Fashion for following a well-trodden path that centres more around their parents' record collection than anything recorded in the last twenty-five years. But then I remember what my folks brought me up on - Gladys Knight, The Stylistics and numerous blastings of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and realised that Hello Movement could have ended up being a hell of a lot worse.

I guess the most striking aspect as far as D.O.F. are concerned is that singer Jesse A Davis' vocal chords bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the late Jim Morrison, and on the seven minute epic that is 'Urgency In Harlem', his band actually make the kind of mystical trip out of psychedelia and into new wave territory that ends up being half-'The End and half-'Marquee Moon'. More to the point though, it's probably the stand alone point where Death Of Fashion actually sound like a band who are ready to rvolve at some point soon, even if they're not quite sure themselves where the finishing line is just yet.

The rest of the album meanwhile borders on vaudeville-esque glam ('Lady Lust', 'It's All Ours'), 80s bright-eyed synth pop ('These Days') and synapse strangling murder ballads of a Velvety kind ('Jenny Says', 'Gesta Es Musica?'). Oddly enough, none of it sounds like it was made as a plagiaristic gesture of cut'n'paste'n'hope for the best. Instead there's a strange feeling that these guys might just be genuine. Let's hope so or yours truly might be sending them the complete works of George Benson this Christmas...


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- Drounded in Sound (uk)

You could make it your life’s vocation to hate these guys and it wouldn’t be difficult. They possess the type of crooked tunes bled through with the kind of gnawing hooks that most bands would happily exchange their souls in return for. ‘Hello Movement’ sounds so casual and laid back you’d swear they’d recorded it lying down. They swagger and slyly strut like no other band in your record collection or for that matter in the collective memory of your close knit circle of friends. They’ve got better hair than you. They get invites to all the grooviest parties in town. And, just to rub salt in the wounds have better sex than you. Let’s face it they are real fucking cool - cooler than you’ll ever hope to be. You hate them don’t you.

One of ‘Hello Movement’s main virtues / attributes is the fact that it’s not immediate. Last years taster release - the awesome ‘These Days’ / ‘It’s all ours’ single (incidentally both included here) was a shot between the eyes posted notice that they’d arrived and were ready to shoot the shit with most of the new wave / post punk scene setters while simultaneously having the Strokes groaning with (presumably) heads in hand at the audacity of the undergrounds latest riff slinging kids on the block. Yet one year on and listening to what passes for their 11 track debut full length you kind of get the feeling that these two cuts were mere teething blips in a sort ’yea we can do that sexy as hell hip hugging three chord razor sharp post punk / new wave crossover type thing until the cows come - but hey how about checking out these babies’.

And babies they are because what Death of Fashion have done, and cleverly so, is to stretch the usual well trodden and over done trademark post punk meets art house sometimes hanging out with new wave disco crossover ideology (listen to the better than Franz scarred white funk of ‘Smoke and Mirrors’) and tapped in an amorphous looseness as opposed to the usual dogged regimented tightness that most bands opt for. This in turn makes for a strangely interesting listening adventure especially during the latter half of the album where things get a little more fluid and less defined. If you were to pin down three irrefutable reference points as to where this leaves Death of Fashion’s headspace then try Television, anything remotely veering into the orbit Warhol’s legendary factory and Talking Heads.

‘These days’ is a resplendently colourful blaze of soured spiked euphoria that mainlines directly into your nervous systems scrambling your life signs and which, despite its heavy hanging downcast sentiment, still manages to both sadistically and seductively meter out a divinely crushing sucker punch. ’It’s all ours’ is your pedal to the floor boot stomping CBGB’s grind that’s part Ramones meets Heartbreakers overseen by the Velvets replete with petulant sneers, lip curls and a riff that sounds suspiciously as though its been lifted wholesale from Cochran’s ’Something Else’. Elsewhere ‘Lady Lust’ strangely at odds with the rest of the set opens with what sounds like Craftwork’s ‘Neon Lights’ (albeit corrupted) before moving at pace into pastures more associated with the English music hall - mid 70’s mind set of the Kinks along the way gently sampling (dare I say) in abundance, Mungo Jerry’s ‘In the Summertime’.

‘Sailor Song’ and ‘Left Right’ are almost separated at birth both deploying similarly austere spectral new wave nuances, the former in particular sounding like some studio summit featuring the Flaming Stars, The Fall, Cathal Coughlan and the Bad Seeds while the latter, arguably the best thing on the album, is quite frankly this generations ’Marquee Moon’ as though teased, coaxed and decoded by an assortment of irregular rhythmic spasms more associated with classic era Byrne and Co. Then there’s the irresistibly fractured and skewed noire-ish psychosis of ‘Urgency in Harlem’ with its freewheeling fried fingered riffs and that unmistakable air of the dusty 50’s infatuated swamp blues so dearly loved of Gallon Drunk. ‘Porcelain Voice’ is similarly touched though benefiting from a tighter and less wayward arrangement.

And if you do decide to foolishly question Death of Fashions cool credentials then button up and play ’Jenny Says’ and then have the balls to tell me otherwise - think Duane and Link shimmying up together for a spot of preening Berry-esque duck walking and hooking up with ’Psychocandy’ era JMC. It is that good - I kid you not.

No matter how daunting a debut ‘Hello Movement’ is - you still hate these cool fucking dudes from NYC - only ever more so now. Hateness and greatness await. Essential of course but then you probably gathered that already.
- Losing Today (uk)