RUSTON MIRE
Driving Straight Up In Siam (Roam)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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Ruston Mire play slightly quirky, inspired powerpop with nods to early '80s bands like the Cars and Devo. Main guy Brian Naubert was in Tubetop, and former members had been in Flop, the Fastbacks and the Posies, but those guys have since moved on. Current member include drummer John Fleischman (Sister Psychic, Gerrald Collier, Voyager One), guitarist/vocalist Wesley Nelson (Muzzle) and bassist Jeff Wood (Orbiter, Sanford Arms). One might be tempted to call their music "new wave," but I always had a love/hate relationship with that term. And as Claude Bessy once said "There is no such thing as New Wave." The fact that many modern groups are being called "New Wave" seems really redundant now considering the term now refers to a style of music that wasn't that new back then, and certainly isn't now, as it's seemingly used now to describe a type of retro sound harkening back some twenty years. But I digress. Ruston Mire have a catchy sound, but with little elements of weirdness tossed in, and interesting synth parts that actually do sound very early '80s. There's elements of '60s psych here, some musical references to early Roxy Music and Eno albums (pre-Ambient nonsense), and pretty weird lyrics. Still, I like this for the most part and have found it growing on me as I listen to it more.

© 2003 - Alan Wright