One Track Mind

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Next Tuesday, American audiences will get their first taste of The Rifles in the form of the four song The Great Escape EP. The mini-album is a prelude to the release of their first non-import full-length (the similarly titled Great Escape, due out this fall), but fans in the United Kingdom have been enjoying the band since their 2006 debut, No Love Lost. Indeed, the love runs deep for The Rifles across the pond, with the fickle NME having declared them “the first band with a London postcode worth tattooing on your heart for ages.”

There is a coy percussiveness to all of the instrumentation on “The Great Escape,” the eponymous lead track from their forthcoming EP. During the song’s verses, a string section chops off short, exclamatory notes on the downbeat, joining the similar syncopation forged by some thickly distorted bass, the tin can clang of rim shots, and lockstep guitars. The clipped pacing has something of the militaristic about it, a characteristic elaborated upon later by a snare-heavy bridge and lyrical allusions to buying “a brand new semi next door to the Taliban.”

With their British take on contemporary indie rock, The Rifles may have a slightly more elevating take on a familiar sound, but it is one that has yet to wear out its welcome. While they are undeniably competing for iPod space with bands like The Cribs and The Rakes (and other bands whose names is preceded by the definite article), it’s excellent company for a band to find oneself in. As with their peers, it is ultimately much easier to be swept up by The Rifles’ infectious songwriting than to try to resist, so do yourself a favor and give in.