Figurines - The Wonder
Figurines - Wrong Way All The Way

Figurines could have been my new favorite band a whole year ago if I paid a little more attention to the indie scene in Denmark. Maybe I need a subscription to NME to keep up with all the new music coming out of Europe. Or maybe there's some uber-hip journal out of Germany that clues overseas readers into the latest from the old country.

And you know, Diesel jeans used to be those hideously fitting colored denim numbers oft accompanied by the ubiquitous fanny pack... nearly as fobby as liederhosen. But things shifted at some point. Diesel is totally hip and The Strokes can pull a Jimi Hendrix by making it across the pond first. Could Europe really be hip again? I mean, Prague, Paris and London have always held their bohemian chic, but what about the other counties that American students can't find on the map?

Certainly the history of rock music has been a dialog across the Atlantic, but in this era of globalization and borderless commerce, I don't think I should have to wait a year to hear the best new music from Luxemburg or Switzerland. (I suppose I should be grateful to The Control Group for eventually releasing Figurines Skeleton album here in the States.) "Silver Ponds" has already made an appearance on the Danish charts but for me they're a breaking new band... and it's not fair!

Now how do I even begin to address the music contained on Skeleton. Pitchfork went on and on about the indeterminent meaning of "catchiness" and used the word "signifier" three times...and gave them an 8.3. Rolling Stone had a difficult time listening through their thick rectal wall but said, "-like Franz Ferdinand but much closer to a first-album Strokes with Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue yelping at the helm." (And, goddamn, Rolling Stone heard this record before I did!?!)

The first song I heard was "Continuous Songs." It's one of those quieter songs where the vocal melody is doubled by the guitar... so the songs feels sparse, minimal. But what got me to scrawl down "Figurines - Continuous Songs" on my notepad at work was the genius chords at 1:05. The next song I encountered was "Rivalry," which is more representative of the album, but still restrained and mellow. I was expecting Figurines to be more like your typical indie pop but with their 'imperfect,' quirky vocals and musical moments. And that was enough to make we want to hear more... to buy the album.

Skeleton opens with "Race You," a disarming ballad. I didn't expect Figurines would go that route based on what I had heard and was prepared to be disappointed. But as soon as "The Wonder" kicked in I knew I was hooked. From the opening pick-scraping guitar lines when the drums kick in, you're in for a ride. There's a sense of urgency reminiscent of punk, a strange pre-chorus from the best of the indie rock annuls complete with voice cracking white-boy-melisma melody, and the strongest hook of a chorus since Cheap Trick. (There's those darn signifiers!) I defy you not to sing along with the Ahhhh-ah on that chorus... just try. And Skeleton is brilliant hook after brilliant hook with lots of genre-mutations and plenty of arty moments.

Besides the beautifully jangly guitars and bizarre arrangements, what I love about Figurines is vocalist Christian Hjelm's melodies. It seems he always manages to slip in the most unexpected note or two and make it work beautifully. It's like he's doing it accidently, effortlessly. But it feels so sincere... like the antithesis to The Strokes bedroom-luring coos. It's so anti-sexy; it's sexy. (And as a not-so-closet Neil Young fan and avid Talking Heads/David Byrne fanboy... these vocals are just about as close to perfect as you can get.)

So do your part to bring down the border and check out the "most hard working Danish indie bands at the moment."

Figurines official website (http://www.figurines.dk/)

Figurines MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/figurinesdk)

Buy Figurines Skeleton from Amazon... there's some used ones for $7)