V2 Int'l
2005
Capture/Release
About This Album
Out of all the post-punk- and new wave-inspired bands coming out of the U.K. in the 2000s, the Rakes are the closest to straightforward, meat-and-potatoes punk. They set their tales of urban claustrophobia to alternately bouncy and angular rock that recalls the Clash and the paranoid sounds of the Stranglers, and also echo contemporaries like the Strokes and fellow Paul Epworth production clients Maxïmo Park and Bloc Party. Like these bands and their other peers, their relatively simple, direct sound acts as a platform for their personality and lyrics. The Rakes end up being uniquely middle-class: they're almost always witty and smart, but not as arch and arty as, say, Art Brut, and sometimes drunk and laddish, but not nearly to the extent that the Libertines were. What makes the band, and their debut album, Capture/Release, interesting is how the Rakes are less concerned with typical punk themes like smashing the system than they are with finding an identity -- or at least some downtime -- within the confines of a nine-to-five life. Alan Donohoe's sharply written observations use the jargon of the work world to convey both vague dissatisfaction with it, as well as momentary escapes from it with drinking or one-night stands.
Track List (try track 11)

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