Prosaics

Utter originality has always been impossible, but many current bands don’t even take a crack at those rare anomalies once known as "ideas.” This shouldn’t detract from a band’s talent — and Prosaics are irrefutably talented — but it does detract from their songs. Particularly on "Now the Shadow of the Column,” bedizened with an intro purloined, note for note, from Interpol’s "Roland,” and on four-fifths of the album which are driven by the drum beat from "Love Will Tear Us Apart.” These fragments provide a sense of Prosaics’ sonic bent, an implacable force of brooding noir which, vocally, lurches away from Joy Division towards Tears for Fears (effectively). Like most EPs, you get a sense of how good the band can be — let’s just hope that, unlike on most LPs, that potential gets realised.