Nomoredolls call themselves “an Italian tribute band” but I think that says more about a language gap than their actual sound or mission. The first part of the description is correct; Nomoredolls are indeed Italian. The second part of the description is where I think the language barrier comes in. In America, a tribute band is a group of musician that inhabit dive-bars while playing Iron Maiden-covers. Nomoredolls are not paying tribute to a band, but they do seem to be paying tribute to a pretty specific style on their new album, Another Way Of Living.
Although I am not familiar with Nomoredolls previous work, they claim that Another Way of Living is “ushering in a new era…of their career”. From the sound of the album, this era is the era where they ape Interpol as much as humanly possible without become an Interpol tribute act.
Take the opening track, “The Boxeur” for instance. The song opens up with U2-esque echoed guitars before adding in quiet bass and a slow-down disco beat. The only thing that separates “The Boxeur” from being mistaken for an early version of “Public Pervert” is that the lead singer of Nomoredolls is a woman! Despite her attempt to recreate the snarl of Paul Banks’ vocals, lead singer Cecilia can not cover up the fact she is indeed a lady.
Having a female vocalist, at least, separates the band a little from their Interpol connection. But I would be remiss if I claimed that their Interpol-ness is not what makes Nomoredolls likable. While critics have universally panned Interpol’s latest self-titled album, Another Way Of Living seems to play like a greatest hits of the first half of Interpol’s career. The band really takes the best aspects of Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics and turns it into a whole album. It is similar to when Rivers Cuomo said Ozma “sounds more like Weezer than Weezer sounded like Weezer”. Nomoredolls has siphoned out any lackluster parts of Interpol and made the strongest compote of Interpol possible. They have out-Interpol-ed Interpol and for that you can do nothing but congratulate them.
Rating: 6.3/10
