It may be cruel but it’s only fair to say that if this debut album mirrors the ride of your life, you need to get out more. Or stay in more. Either way, do something different. Ride Of Your Life just isn’t terribly good. The four-piece may look vaguely sleazy in a glamorous way, may be attempting to exude some curled-lip cool, but, unfortunately, all here is startlingly conventional and safe. Having song-titles like ‘White Trash‘ does not, in and of itself, mean you wouldn’t be quite at home on Heart FM.
JOANovARC seem to be aiming for some grit but come away sounding like a slightly diluted version of any number of bands the Sunset Strip once inflicted on an unsure world. Mind you, at least half of the poodle-permed aspirants from that American musical hotbed turned out to be genuinely nuts. There’s a overproduced air about JOANovARC that suggests not a foot will be put wrong. This is not always a good thing.
With such negative beginnings, it’s tempting to try and find the positives. To eke out the qualities that could and should be exploited. Sam Walker can sing. Fine set of lungs. They know how hit things and pluck things in the way the handbook would approve of. They certainly know how to pick a producer – in this case, Gil Norton, famous knob-twiddler for Pixies, Foo Fighters et al. But, other than that, what is there to say? It’s middle of the road, adult-orientated rock that sounds like it could have been recorded anytime between now and 1983. An appearance over the pond prompted this quote from one quarter of the industry press: “The four ladies in the band played a terrific set of melodic rock music for the early crowd“. Whilst, on one level, that sounds quite positive, it perhaps illustrates the lack of edge across all 11 tracks here. Melodic rock for the early crowd is certainly a market, but, it’s not one to get easily excited about.
It’s a shame because, with some judicial pruning and nudging, there could be material of interest. ‘Seeds Of Summer‘, whilst still being alarmingly straight, rattles along quite appealingly. One suspects it would hard to get them to drop the dated LA-sounding guitar solos, but, adjusting the messed-up knobs to 11 on the mixing desk and adding in a touch of degradation would be a whole lot better. Inject a little vim underneath the polished patina. ‘Live Rock And Roll‘ actually almost manages it. Quite raucous, touch of nihilism, much better…could be better still.
That’s not the only avenue available, however. ‘Work‘ ditches any allusions to the grim and the grime and goes for a high-concept hook-fest. Quite unexpected and conceivably could have been spewed out by Girls Aloud in their pomp. Perhaps that is an angle to be explored if the dark side is not on the agenda? It’s clearly the strongest track from JOANovARC here. Other than that, this collection misses the mark to these ears.
Disappointing and wholly unoriginal stuff all in. They’ll probably be massive.
Ride Of Your Life is released on 11th November through Red Vixen Records.
