The Chap: Well Done Europe

The Chaps: Well Done Europe
Pan-European quartet, The Chap have been making music for the past eight years together. On their latest album, Well Done Europe the group continues to seamlessly meld krautrock, pop, and indie-rock into an easily digestible mixture.
It is hard for me to listen to The Chap’s new album and not immediately draw comparisons to modern krautrock bands like Fujiya & Miyagi. Like Fujiya & Miyagi, The Chap features deep grooves with light vocals and pop sensibility. Unfortunately, like Fujiya & Miyagi, The Chap’s lyrical content is far from what is expected.
I think if not for the lyrics, I would enjoy Well Done Europe much more than I do. There are some tracks on the album who’s lyrical content make me shudder. For instance, on the single “Well Done You” lead singer Keith Duncan repeatedly sings “Well done you/you’ve really really got the hang of it/that’s excellent stuff there/c’mon, I’ll buy you a drink”. These type of lyrical banalities makes the track hard to enjoy. I would actually prefer the track to be an instrumental rather than these impersonal lyrical comments.
But “Well Done You” does not stand alone as the only poorly written track. “Few Horoscope” has the potential to be a great track with a danceable poppy beat with light guitar noodling over the top but the lyrics drag it down. Duncan sings “I’m far too sweaty” and the back-up vocalists chime in “itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy” before the song breaks into its “get the funk out of here” chorus.
No tracks on the album feature great lyrics but most of the lyrics are passable enough to not take away from the music. That is why I do not completely hate Well Done Europe. Most of the tracks are groovin and poppy enough that poor lyrics do not hurt them but with a little work the album could have been much better.
Rating: 6.7/10
MP3: The Chap “Well Done You”
Buy: iTunes or Insound!