| Pale Young Gentlemen - Pale Young Gentlemen |
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| Written by Steve McPherson | |
| Friday, September 28, 2007 at 11:56 AM | |
 Pale Young GentlemenPale Young Gentlemen Self-Released paleyounggentlemen.com A love for Weimar-era cabaret music isn't a prerequisite for enjoying the self-titled debut by Madison's Pale Young Gentlemen, but at the very least, a warm feeling for The Dresden Dolls, Gogol Bordello, Twin Cities band Painted Saints, and/or fishnet stockings, pancake makeup, and homburgs will make it easier. Despite that proviso, Pale Young Gentlemen is a surprisingly self-possessed and understated record. The songs, which bear titles like "Fraulein," "Me & Nikolai," and "An Appeal to St. Peter," sound like they should be echoing out of a lushly decorated parlour lit by tiny Christmas lights, and even the more raucous numbers like "Saturday Night" never become garish, despite their theatricality. In fact, the album's tight production is one of its greatest strengths, highlighting the plink of the acoustic guitars, the chick of the hi-hat, and singer/pianist Mike Reisenauer. His voice recalls Jeff Buckley or Rufus Wainwright at their most louche, a kind of sleepily sleazy drawl that could just as easily be delivered from a divan as from behind a microphone. If the record were simply a pastiche of cabaret clichés, it would be a failure. As The Decemberists have shown, you need great melodies to go along with your theatrical and/or literary nostalgia if you want to make it stick. Fortunately, Pale Young Gentlemen is brimming over with smart and well-orchestrated parts: Reisenauer's yearning rise into the chorus of "Fraulein," the beautiful falsetto bridge of "An Appeal to St. Peter," the gently lilting and somehow Parisian verse melody of "As a War." They clearly have a great ear for how to put the pieces of a tune together, and that's what makes this record a real grower. Bands that have some kind of sonic hook—Garage blues! Gypsy rock! Flamenco-hop!—need to back those things up with actual songcraft. Otherwise, the novelty wears off and novelty bands turn, somewhat perversely, into mere novelties. Don't count Pale Young Gentlemen among their ranks; their self-titled debut gets better each time through. With a record this winning under their belts already, you can expect some buzz to start following these gentlemen around. Listen to "Single Days" |
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| Last Updated: Friday, September 28, 2007 at 05:27 PM |
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