How We Operate

by

Gomez

Edit

The world is divided into those who were on the Gomez train ride since the early 90s and those who hopped on sometime after the new millenium and decided to buy into the misleading sarcasm of "influential pop critics". Blame the British media for being anti-Americanism during the blossoming years of ultra-Anglophilism - the years when anything that didn't sound even remotely British or Britpop-like were deemed rubbish.

Gomez started being experimental and that in itself was a mistake. People laughed when they talked about the varsity union in Whippin' Picadilly. Critics hurled when they heard the David Blaine influenced tunes from Machismo. Nothing Ian Ball & Co. ever did since the beginning of their careers have gone right.

But let's just say that 8 or 9 years on, Gomez is more refreshing and interesting that anything Liam Gallagher can vomit out of his acoustic soul. Britpop is dead, everything that you ever knew about Britpop has been taken underground by Teenage Fanclub. Gomez are still here though, and that in itself speaks volumes.

Perhaps the only mistake Gomez have ever done is to released records at times when different musical mainstreams are taking place. Perhaps they should have released 'How We Operate' back in the guitar heydays of jangly pop. Perhaps Liquid Skin would see better times if they released it now in this electronica frontier. Poor Gomez. Getting their musical timeline all wrong. Let's line them up and have a media cult gathering bonfire Shot Shot.

'How We Operate' is solid, the music is interesting, the singing beats the hell out of Brandon Flowers, the lyrics are fun and keeps you coming back everytime. There's a good balance of loud and quiet, a fusion of charming bits and that's all you really need in an album, right?

There are one or two rubbish tracks (Cry On Demand, haha!) but which album released since 1979 doesn't have a couple of those?

Listen to 'How We Operate' without comparison to any of the band's previous efforts. Don't let critics tell you why you shouldn't like Gomez. Take it for what it is - a genuine guitar-laden pop/rock album with no frills. You'll come to a realization that it's a whole lot better than some of the ambient-laden monochromatic new age junk out there.