The best things in music are often the simplest. For example, for all the majestic grandeur of their later music, the Beatles never quite managed to accomplish with it what they did in under three minutes with choruses of "Yeah, yeah yeah" and "Whoooooo!". Punk, it could be argued, sought to recapture the spirit of simplicity that mainstream rock seemed to have lost. Bands like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones proved that all that's really needed for a good song are a few chords and some simple lyrics.
Ringer is definitely hoping to follow in the footsteps of these bands. Though they describe their music as "(t)astefully balancing melody and countermelody within a structural context both passively-aggressive and deceptively memorable," it's actually fairly straightforward punk rawk. You can spot the chord changes the moment each song begins, and you can guess an entire song's lyrics on the basis of its first line.
And yet, for some intangible reason, Presents for the Present is a very satisfying album. The songs are short and catchy; opening track "Looker", for example, gives the album an energetic start with a quick, building riff that explodes into a bouncy, singalong chorus. It's followed by "Oxen", which can only be described as exuberant -- a song unashamed to reclaim a spirit of youth with a chorus featuring the lines "Ollie ollie oxen-free, now you're running away from me." Most surprising, though, is "Still", the album's final track. In contrast to the established mood of general bounciness, it's a quiet, acoustic number, featuring what sounds like a sample of a female opera singer. It's the only song that could be described as lacking in production gloss -- yet it also gives Presents for the Present a pleasing vulnerability, and shows that Ringer is more than just a poppy punk act.
If there is any real misstep here, it would have to be "Palooka", in which lead singer Craig Montoro sounds disturbingly like a wimpy, depoliticized version of Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha. While nasal rapping may work for nu-metal, it sounds completely contrary to the disc's joyful spirit.
Whether Presents for the Present possesses melody and countermelody, or has passively-aggressive structural context, I really can't say. What I can say, however, is that it's an impressive debut -- one which may well put the band on the road to the punk stardom they claim to crave. As long as Ringer doesn't attempt to be as complex as their press tries to make them sound, they just might find the fame they desire.
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