What's great about the Capes' debut album is the commanding grip they have on their sound. Just the opening notes of "Mexican Broads" set the tone for Hello: a moseying bass line, a few cute Casio keyboard squiggles that hover like gnats in summer, then some cutting chords from impatient guitars. Singer Kris Barratt delivers an irreverent and sing-songy line like he's really pleased with himself to be British, adding a level of charm and guile to a familiar 90s sound. You may read Beach Boys comparisons elsewhere, but it sounds a whole lot like later Blur, right down to the falsetto backing vocals in "Broads" and later "Comet Tails".
What's strange is that, even with all these tools in their arsenal, few of the songs on Hello deliver on the promise of their parts. The band switches from jagged angst to self-satisfied giggles with ease, and tracks like "First Base" wield on the keyboards just as aggressively as guitars, showing patent disregard for subtlety. But amidst all the bubbly enthusiasm, slacker charm, and layered "la-la-la's," good ideas get lost in the jumble. There's something jarring and graceless about the transitions in "Supergirls" or "Shinjuku 5", on which several competent hooks are sewn together like patchwork without any single one leaving an impression. By the time one gets to "Carly", the melodies fired away at automatic clip, it starts to feel workmanlike. Perhaps it's just too much of a good thing. It sounds brilliant while it's playing, but damned if I can remember one tune from the album the moment it's over. Songs like "Regional Heats", from their debut EP Taste, were irresistibly catchy; "Mexican Broads" might be the only track on Hello that lands a hook.
There are some surprises towards the album's latter half, when the energy lags and the boys get introspective. The sugary Blur/Beulah mix of "Comet Tails" sounds both proud and bruised at once. "Tightly Wound" flirts with surf rock and recalls the Offspring's "Come Out and Play" a little too closely, but "Stately Homes" is an unpretentious and unadorned strum-happy sing-along. Closing track "Sun Roof" sounds downright ethereal, even. These few moments are cracks in the band's joyous but rote veneer. For now, call Hello a fine stick of gum and the Capes a band to keep an eye on, because they're certainly capable of more.
