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Skeleton

Figurines

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Album Review

This second effort from Figurines is enough to make a listener do a double take. The Danish fourpiece sounds almost exactly like Modest Mouse. If Isaac Brock isn't providing the vocals, it's his Copenhagen equivalent. Album closer "Release Me on the Floor" is the greatest offender or the finest copy, depending on one's viewpoint. But Figurines don't place all their eggs in one basket, finding lesser influence from Pavement, Built to Spill, and a myriad other Pacific U.S. bands. It's almost as if they've gone to their local listening library, picked a region of the world, and sought to mimic the artists from that area. But Figurines do their impersonation well enough and with enough hooks and fine melodies to come out with a more than winning result. They add enough to the mix to be more of a Lush to My Bloody Valentine rather than a Yatsura to Pavement. There's not a clunker in this batch of 14 sunshine-laden songs. And though some of the production is a bit too reminiscent of 1990s indie rock, the songs are strong enough and the attitude addictive enough to position Figurines as more than an also-ran.

Customer Reviews

Doug and Issac's Time Machine

Sounds like what would happen if Doug Martsch (Built to Spill) and Issac Brock (Modest Mouse) went back in time and re-wrote and re-performed some of their older, less-refined songs. Just like every review that has been written about them says, The Figurines have the nasal vocals of Martsch and the excited, almost-emo voice of Brock. The biggest musical difference is that the songs have jagged, post-punk-y guitars, with plenty of eighth-notes (Think of Franz Ferdinand minus the trendy polish) rather than the guitar heroics of Built to Spill and harmonic jabs of Modest Mouse. The songs take a bit to sink in, but once the melodies and catchy songwriting reveal themselves, the tracks stop sounding the same and the Figurines definitely distunguish themselves from their counterparts. "Race You" is the mellow intro that sounds nothing like the rest of the album, and "The Wonder" takes about 1 second to lift the album into the air. As Skeletons moves along, each song unveils its own identity and it's tough not to get the urgent choruses entrenched in your brain. Maybe too many songs, but 90% of them are under 3 1/2 minutes so it's forgivable, plus you'll be rewarded for your patience once you get to "Release Me On The Floor", probably the best song on the album. Be wary, you won't like these songs the first couple listens so be patient. Besides, don't you want to be the first of your dorky music buddies to recommend the Figurines, aka the "Under The Radar" band of 2006?

A VERY pleasant surprise discovery!

One day I was browsing around Pitchfork and I came across this review and liked the idea, so I came here, listened to the clips, and concluded that I absolutely, positively had to download it. And now I can't stop listening to it! This, along with Belle & Sebastian's The Life Pursuit, is definitely one of my favorite albums of 2006 so far. It's ridiculously catchy, and the songs are really varied, from dance-punk to power pop to piano ballads to faux-country. I've been recommending this to everyone now, and although I took a certain degree of pride in the fact that my indie-kid cousins had never heard of these guys, at the same time, I really wish more people knew about them, they are just that good!

Brilliant

Brilliant underrated album. This is definitely the best to come out of 2006, and one of those albums where nearly all the tracks are gems.

Biography

Formed: Aalborg, Denmark

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '00s, '10s

Danish indie rock outfit Figurines formed in the mid-'90s around childhood friends vocalist/guitarist Christian Hjelm, bassist Andreas Toft, and guitarist/vocalist Claus Salling Johansen. The guys began practicing at a local school and initially all three played guitar until Toft took up bass and Johansen manned the drums. They began playing gigs around their hometown of Aalborg, and in the fall of 2001 Figurines recorded the five-song EP The Detour. Finished up over the course of one weekend, the...
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