Ambulance LTD - New English EP

Genre rock Publisher TVT Records External Links Official Ambulance LTD Website Official TVT Records Website

New York City's Ambulance LTD (formerly just Ambulance) made a splashette with their slightly anachronistic jangle when their self-titled debut appeared a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, it was released when NYC bands were busy revisiting 1983. Now, I love me some Longwave, but it's sad that little Ambulance, with their ominous Velvets-throwback sound, didn't get their rightful share of the media spotlight.

New English is a self-confessed stopgap whilst Ambulance puts the finishing touches on its second full-length album, due out by the end of the summer. It appears at first listen that the only unifying element is singer Marcus Congleton's voice, languid yet touched with worry. On the title track, Congleton's neurasthenia functions almost as a discrete instrument, scratching away at the comfortable wall of jangle that the rest of the band has erected. Smooth as his vocals are, the unrest is still tangible.

"Arbuckle's Swan Song", although it's not a demo, has an unfinished quality about it that's actually kind of endearing. It has nothing to do with our beloved Fatty Arbuckle, which is a little confusing. For one thing, it's much sweeter and lighter than O.G. Roscoe. Congleton works a falsetto that intertwines with a pretty reverb lick. The result is a lovely, floaty confection that makes me secretly hope that the rest of the EP-in fact, the rest of Ambulance-continues in this direction.

Which it does, sort of. Though Congleton doesn't break out the falsetto again (a blessing in disguise, probably-like sprinkles on ice cream, a little goes a looong way), that song's evocative drift is still evident elsewhere on the EP. In this context, their strangely fitting version of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" acts as a statement of intent.

"Sugar Pill" would be a standout track on New English in 1988, but here its ersatz psych-pop Warholiana is off-putting. However, the effect is short-lived, and I put it down mainly to the fact that it just sounds so stilted in relation to the rest of the EP. Already my mouth waters in preparation for the tremelo-drenched orgy of melancholy that will be the new Ambulance album. Bring it on!