Be Your Own King

Flush with the feverish and desperate zeal of youth, if Be Your Own King, the full-length debut from French indie pop outfit Concrete Knives, were a living thing, it would smell like a sweaty handful of unused drink tickets. All gang vocals, left-field rhythmic shifts, and kinetic yet willfully melodic indie pop non-swagger, the Normandy five-piece wants to be Talking Heads, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and fellow countrymen Phoenix all at once, which can make for an exhausting listen, but a predilection for brevity and simple pop craftsmanship ultimately tempers their more obstinate tendencies, resulting in a smart, well-executed set of staccato dance-rock anthems that flirt with excess, yet never overstay their welcome. There is a pixie-ish (the impish creature of folklore, not the feral Boston alt-rock gods) undercurrent that runs through album highlights like "Brand New Start," "Wild Gunman," and the "Magnificent Seven"-era Clash-influenced "Greyhound Racing," but it's the aforementioned David Byrne, Win Butler, and Ezra Koenig who lord over moodier cuts like "Wallpaper" and "Africanize," the latter of which capably reproduces, albeit in a darker fashion, Vampire Weekend's hipster Soweto. Elsewhere, the instrumental "Roller Boogie," with its easy, heavily chorused guitars and sci-fi synth lead, feels just right in the sixth slot, the propulsive crowd-pleaser "Happy Mondays" hints at the group's notoriously energetic live shows, and the dreamy closer "Blessed" wraps things up in a hazy, well-earned hangover glow. ~ James Christopher Monger