Penny Century
Demo
self-released
Judging from their website, Penny Century's members are all very political who support socialism, vegetarianism, their local (punk) scene, etc. It would be silly to talk of any DIY-aesthetics since they've only released one three track EP so far, but comparisons with Belle and Sebastian, for example, are close at hand due to Penny Century's music being steeped in same musical heritage as B&S's. The political aspect of the band if of course very intriguing, but it also makes the subject matter of the lyrics quite baffling. Instead of any trace of Penny Century's political "agenda", we get lyrics that are ridden with "twee clichés". Perhaps it's a bit unfair to criticize a band three songs into their career, but I just find it a bit odd that bands who portray themselves as being very political won't include any of this into their lyrics (mind you, there might be some obvious socialistic metaphors in the lyrics that I've completely missed, the line "How come each new footprint in the snow looks just like the previous one?" might be a comment upon how new political leaders claiming to be radical end up being as conservative as their predecessors). Anyway, the three songs on this demo are all worth checking out (especially "An evening on the heath" which is a peach of a song), and I, for one, will keep an eye open for any future releases by Penny Century.
- Simon Tagestam