The Photo Atlas – No, Not Me, Never / 2006 Stolen Transmission | Morning After Records / 10 Tracks / http://www.thephotoatlas.com / http://www.stolentransmission.com / Reviewed 21 January 2007

“Electric Shock” has The Photo Atlas start like any number of dance punk acts that were on the lips of indie scene kids from 2003 on. In fact, the spastic nature of “Electric Shock” is reminiscent of The Rapture, even if the vocals attempt to go in an At The Drive-In direction. The Photo Atlas will be big when this album gets to the right people, but I don’t know how much of the music on here is honestly The Photo Atlas attempting to come up with their own style and how much of it is the band trying to get critical and fan support. “Merit” brings this dance-punk style even further back in the eighties; there is more than a passing hint of The Cure even as the angular momentum of the band is channeling Franz Ferdinand.

There is nothing saying that the band is lax on their creation of music or anything of the sort, but rather that the band really needs to show more of their own selves as musicians so individuals can find something to appreciate. “Light and Noise” is the first track where the band seems to pull out a performance that is as much influenced by the four members of the band as it is the rest of the genre. The track is slower and much less concerned with the echoing “New Romantic” sound of prior tracks, with the emotional content of the track increased as well. Whether The Photo Atlas makes it big is dependent largely on the songs from “No, Not Me, Never” that are chosen to be singles.

If “Electric Shock” or “Merit” are nominated for that honor, The Photo Atlas may fall through the cracks. If a song that represents more of their own sound, such as “Light and Noise”, is tapped the band has a good chance fitting into the space between Queens of the Stone Age and The Killers. Still, The Photo Atlas has the skill and drive necessary to make it big, just as long as they put themselves a little more fully into each track on their subsequent album. I can understand trying to be safe and trying to do things that have been done successfully, but at some point the band has to be bold and make a stand. The Photo Atlas will do that in a subsequent album, but “No, Not Me, Never” is an album that does not do that fully.

Top Tracks: Light and Noise, Broadcasting Feedback

Rating: 4.6/10

[JMcQ]