The Rakes

Capture/Release

[3/5] If the song titles on their debut album are any indication–see “Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep)”–the Rakes are as dissatisfied with the drudgery of the modern world as fellow abrasive-rockers Art Brut. Nevertheless, throughout Capture/Release, the London quartet choose to cloak their discontent in riotously catchy pop songs that fall somewhere between boisterous pub anthems and artsy bursts of haphazard punk: The Rakes’ tunes borrow liberally from the metallic art-punk drone of early Wire, the droll delivery of Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and the kicky dance romps of Franz Ferdinand. Yet the disc’s closing song, “All Too Human,” reveals there’s also a sense of vulnerability beneath the Rakes’ cynicism, as singer Alan Donohoe–bearing an uncanny resemblance to Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke–confesses to such heart-wrenching loneliness, you almost want to hug the poor bastard.
(V2) Annie Zaleski