Back in the day, a minibike was no more credible as a form of transport as a ball-bearing gun was a weapon of force. Restricted in size, power and sonic volume, a minibike could never provide the cloak of integrity that a real motorbike offered. Still, a minibike was about having fun; that riding a motorbike could assert one’s rugged character was as specious as smoking cigarettes for a fashion statement.
On its debut album, For Woods Or Trail, Melbourne’s Minibikes isn’t making a bold and brash artistic statement; it is, however, creating pop music of a very reputable quality. Kill To Feel is part slick West Coast pop formula, part Alex And The Ramps oddball melody; Tennis Clothes is the glittering summer pop song from The Someloves’ central casting. Oh Japan is so sweet and delicious it should come with a health warning; while Here Come The Bees lacks the precision of its predecessors, Broken Bones takes you back to The Sunnyboys’ world adolescent innocence. I Should Have Known bounces into vision like a candy-coloured incarnation of Iggy Pop’s Passenger, Top Brass stretches and strains with classic Californian attitude and Ooo Woo Hoo Hoo is stamped with the beauty of The Stems.
On Jude the mood turns from gladness to reflection, with a healthy dose of The Cars, and a dash of Young Charlatans if you’re lucky, while Wires is replete with the type of hope for the future you get when you’re immersed yourself in Orange Humble Band. After the title track opens up a yawning chasm of psychedelic space, Emo Kids ends the album on an unexpectedly cravat and cocktail lounge note. It’s a pleasure to imbibe quality pop music; Minibikes have got it in spades.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Tennis Clothes
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: HALL & OATES, ALEX AND THE RAMPS,THE SOMELOVES
In A Word: Sparkling
