REVIEW // THE VOYEURS – RHUBARB RHUBARB

‘Rhubarb Rhubarb ‘ out on 10th November, is the second album release following on from their acclaimed debut album ‘Clarietta’, from East London based five piece The Voyeurs – formerly known as Charlie Boyer And The Voyeurs. Produced by Oli Bayston , the ten track LP is a departure from their first album,being more experimental but also very carefully structured. The band have said they had more time on this second album and were also all equally involved in the decision making. The tracks were recorded many times, with different versions until the final ones were decided upon. The Voyeurs are embarking on a European Tour supporting The Horrors, following the release of ‘Rhubarb Rhubarb’.

‘Train To Minsk’ has a ’70s sounding electro pop vibe, with a big sprinkling of Glam Rock and Charlie Boyer’s incredible and distinct vocal style dominates here to great effect – with an experimental feel there is also a feeling of familiarity, with fuzzy pedals utilised. In ‘Pete the Pugilist’, lyrics go, ” He’s not your friend…you’d better make like a tree… and leave”. Charlie’s voice carries the piece along, with the low and steady drums of Samir Eskanda – gentle but with a sure beat throughout. ‘Stunners’, commentary on modern life is upbeat, with bass from Danny Stead, Sam Davies and keys from Ross Kristian, solos here midway – vocals on reverb and edgy and uneasy menace. ‘The Smiling Loon’, immediately conjures up visions of The Beatles/ Syd Barrett and the lyrics start, “When you were young “. Low key grows into a key heavy Psych then light carnivalesque keys and doomy drums, with slow drawl lyrics lamenting, “What have I done…just having fun?”

‘Say You Love Him (And Choke)’, is like some Art House experimental type piece instrumental conception work – nonlinear but not discordant, it finds some harmony in free form as Charlie’s lyrics spit out, “Say you love him and choke”. With title song, ‘Rhubarb Rhubarb’ there is a distinct feel of nostalgia and it is reminiscent of one of The Voyeurs influences – The Kinks and Ray Davies in particular way of chronicling the times. It starts out Eno like and then very Kinks like – almost spoken lyrics – zippy high electro keys and Charlie’s voice echoes in, “People come from afar”.

‘May Will You Stop’ is deceptively simple in structure and stunningly moving in its simplicity and profound single mindedness. As it slow drips guitars, drums and keys and Charlie’s voice – soft and luscious, in gentle, languid sweeps – it feels like an ethereal lullaby.
A commentary on modern life, a humorous glass looked through sharply by a deeply observant, intelligent band – The Voyeurs voice their feelings on the discordant and meaningless and frequently pointless mixture of sounds / messages humans today are increasingly making.
In the United Kingdom it is common for a crowd of extras in acting to shout the word “rhubarb” repeatedly and out of step with each other, to cause the effect of general hubbub. The Voyeurs say intend to make a comment on modern life people now use a variety of social media to relay messages – but invariably a lot of this is just like meaningless, background noise. A category which this accomplished second album does not fall into.

Got your tickets for our headline show at Red Gallery on Wednesday 19th November? Right here: http://seetickets.com/go/voyeurs