What if The Libertines were basically decent guys? What about the early Rolling Stones, or Guns N' Roses, or any of the bands who just want to play some rock and fucking roll? I mean like if they didn't ruin their girlfriend's lives and if they didn't smoke crack and if they maybe mowed the lawn for their moms once in a while. What if all of that was true but they still wanted to play rrrrrock? What would they sound like? After listening to the new Mando Diao album, Ode to Ochrasy, we know the answer. Without a little darkness, rock and roll is kind of... boring.
The album actually provides its own explanation for this obstinate innocence. The last song, "Ochrasy," explains the whole thing this way:
I'm waking up again and see that war on screen again / And it makes me want to go and hide / This world is full of misery / The anger is too big to see / That's why I had to dream this dream
So far, so dumb. Jeez. Well, let's get through the rest of this transcendent lyric stanza.
I was dreaming 'bout times / Times that are gone / Times when I lived alone / In my own land called Ochrasy
Keep in mind this whole album is an "Ode to Ochrasy." (Oh, an ode. You mean like Spenser? Awesome.) So we're talking about an album dedicated to the idea of solipsism and an escape from the real world. I mean, that isn't a bad idea in and of itself. A lot of electronic music does the same thing, just without mentioning it. But most of this album sounds like balls-out Maximum RnB in The Libertines and early Stones mold. And that stuff stands on a foundation of teenage-sex guitar-as-weapon mayhem.
To these guys' credit, the guitar-bass-drums basis of these songs, even on the slower second half are solid garage-pop. It's just that the vocals contradict every impulse toward coolness the band can muster. They're kind of soft and mellow, even in the faux-wild howls that start what seems like every song. They're...you know...pleasant. But it's not the sound of the vocals that kills the deal. It's the words. Now, not all of the lyrics are sweet. It's just that when they do decide to discuss women, alcoholism, Amsterdam, etc., any suggestion of a gritty vibe is ruined by this pervasive good-mood nonsense. Also, most of the words are dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But, you say, this band is Swedish. This isn't their native tongue. And, sure, we can all imagine the hilarity that would ensue if I tried to compose some badass shit en español . But a lot of this is just silly. From "Long Before Rock 'N' Roll":
She said I like just lying on the bed / Beneath the ceiling with her head upon my pillow / There's nothing as I'd rather do / And I said I'd rather do it on the couch
or from "Amsterdam:"
And I talked to God on the telephone / But I really can't tell you what he told me / But it was a lie
I could throw other examples at you, but you're probably better off without reading any more of these ESL catastrophes.
Ultimately, this album sucks for yours truly. I fucking LOVE this kind of guitar music. And practically all of these songs have adorable little hooks. Especially "The Wildfire (If it was True)" and "Tony Zoulias (Lustful Life)." These two come closest to fulfilling the kind of rock/pop this ought to be, like, say, a good song off Up the Bracket . I can't bring myself to hate it, vocals be damned. I just wish the Kings of Leon guy or Ronnie Van Zant fronted them. Yeah, some southerner with a bottle of whiskey and a mustache and a habit of actually doing the things Mando Diao sings about so politely.
