Maybe it’s the time of year, but I haven’t selected too many hard hitting or complex tracks in the last week, and Alien Cargo offer some easy listening indie rock that won’t require multiple listens before you decide whether you like it or not.
They’re a 3 piece band that hail from Trondheim, and claim to be inspired by “fairytales, current events and various psychological phenomena”. I expect
Rumpelstiltskin, the Burgh Island Pirate statue and the Boiling Frog Syndrome all to be covered in their forthcoming album, otherwise I’ll be mightily disappointed,
They released a self titled EP last year, which has a couple of highlights including the well written and melodic ‘Boy Avoidant’, but their most recent release is ‘Hellbent Replicant’, the 1st taster of the album, which is to be entitled ‘The Goldilocks Zone’.
Writing about the song the band say “Hellbent Replicant is a nihilistic blast of garage rock with a surprisingly moral lyric. The main theme is the natural consequence of developing and then neglecting artificial intelligence - the ignored responsibility of the creator.”
That’s all fair enough, but it would only really be surprising I guess if a Norwegian band wrote a song with immoral lyrics. And then we probably wouldn’t feature it anyway.
As for the song, well it’s a straightforward enough indie track which propels itself forward with gusto, has a catchy chorus and which will be a good addition to the NMR playlist when I update it at the weekend. Having listened to the EP there are a couple of tracks I like more, but there’s always room on these pages for Indie Rock bands who write songs with tunes.
This is ‘Hellbent Replicant’: