The sleeve of Post Nothing bears more than a passing resemblance like the sleeve of Television’s Marquee Moon. It’s surely unlikely to be a coincidence, and Japandroids certainly share with Television an extreme economy – both sound desperate to make the most impressive sound possible with the little physical attributes they have. Where they differ, though, is on dramatics. Television blustered their economy into structures based on immense tension and release, while Japandroids gleefully make music as positive, scattergun and running-too-fast as it is possible to make with just guitar and drums. They even hug on the sleeve.
‘Heart Sweats’ has chord patterns and riffs reminiscent of a chugging Thurston Moore, and ‘Crazy/Forever’ sounds like Deep Purple being rinsed by Kinski, but their sense of abandon is totally their own. Truly, there is little more heartening than the chorusing wails that pepper Post-Nothing. So what, though – they’re hardly the first to scream. So something less tangible about this pair has to affirm our belief that they love to shout together, and a closer listen suggests that it’s nothing more complicated than the fact that they have to struggle to be heard amidst the aforementioned slushing mix of guitar and drum.
‘Young Hearts Spark Fire’ is bumbling, bouncy and perhaps the closest thing to radio-friendly on the whole album. It speaks (or, as established, shouts) of forgotten potential, but is conversely obsessed with steering clear of pessimism – "I don’t wanna worry about dying, I just wanna worry about the fine girls". When at the four-and-a-half minute-mark, the instruments stop to let extended screams take the foreground, it makes for a potent juxtaposition of two brands of chaos, romantic and existential.
The teenager-y fixations of some of the lyrics serve more than anything to unite this pair in their quest for expression. On the Japandroids mySpace is a video of the band rehearsing at the end of which Brian King comments on the song they’ve just finished playing. "Less than five fuck-ups? That’s good enough to play live." This, undoubtedly, should let the listener know where the energy in this band is directed. Noise, positivity, and a ramshackle sense of togetherness.
