The Whigs
‘Mission Control’
(ATO)

The debut album from Athens Georgia three-piece The Whigs is a confident collection of songs jam-packed with infectious melodies and dynamic rhythms.

The urgency of opening track ‘Like A Vibration’ knocks you over with a roaring attack of guitars, while ‘Production City’ combines a dancing bass line over machine gun tight rhythms. The catchy hook-laden ‘I Got Ideas’ is an exuberant fusion of horns and Southern-rock twang and the intimate piano-driven ‘Sleep Sunshine’ showcases the band’s reflective side with a lurching guitar solo.

There is a fierce intensity and explosive punk rock energy to ‘Mission Control. It is a raucous 37-minutes embodying all things forgotten in alternative rocks uncompromising optimism. The Whigs combine all that was best about The Replacements, Guided By Voices and Pavement.

There is lots of heart on these songs and ‘Mission Control’ captures a raw and gritty spirit that makes pop music interesting.

Delivering on the promise of their 2005 self-released ‘Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip’, the album is a reengagement in the bare-boned aesthetic and melody of indie rock music and its left-of-centre predecessors. ‘Mission Control’ is an album stuffed full of really well-crafted, catchy tunes with great lyrics that give alt rock a much-needed shot in the arm.
(4/5)

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