After over 600 gigs, London based brother-and-sister duo The Molotovs have finally released their debut album. It’s fair to say that for a band so aligned with punk, Wasted On Youth is much more of a hark back to Britpop and 2010s indie rock, but despite a slight lack of self-awareness, it is studded with promise.
Indie cursive singing is a bold move, and one that has attracted a lot of attention on social media in recent years by millennials cringing at their youth. There’s an extremely thin line between The Kooks asking the ironically iconic "do you want to go to the seaside?" and Arctic Monkeys presenting the timeless introduction "I said who’s that girl there?", but it’s very clear which side of that line you want to be on. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to review this album without discussing the over-enunciated London indie style of singing by Mathew Cartlidge, which does lean into cursive at times and becomes tiring by the final track. Highlights “Wasted On Youth” and “Rhythm Of Yourself” find a way of making it work, but acoustic track “Nothing Keeps Her Away” is an example of where lyrics need to be groundbreaking to be able to get away with such statement vocals.
Wasted On Youth is full of energy, impressive musicianship, and chemistry, there’s clear attention to melody throughout with most tracks becoming catchy by the first chorus, and if you can get past the over-enunciation, it has some really promising moments. “Daydreaming” sounds a lot like Oasis’ “The Girl In The Dirty Shirt”, a style that suits the duo well. “Popstar” is another track that has clear Britpop influences and stands out, as well as the faster, slightly more punky tracks mentioned previously. The lack of clarity in the genre doesn’t feel intended, it feels like two teenagers who enjoy a lot of different music and also happen to love making it, which is forgivable because that’s exactly what it is.
It’s a bit all over the place, but it’s not impossible to imagine a world where The Molotovs grow into their style, the vocals calm down slightly and this becomes a first album worth revisiting.
