Buy Or Don’t Buy

Consider the timeline of The Wedding Present, morphing into Cinerama, morphing back to The Wedding Present. From the initial George Best album in ’87, to Cinerama’s late 90’s prolific discog, including Torino, to TWP’s return with Take Fountain and the Search for Paradise comp, the group has always rocked—hard. Though Gedge has a penchant for singing about girls he makes sure to mention are gorgeous, there is usually something interesting/weird going on as well. And, phew, his verbosity always always always escapes sentimentality.With heavy melodic walking basslines, a guy in touch with a brooding and humorous sense of his own undeserving, and unpredictable buildups and odd choruses, The Wedding Prez has yet to fail. But what makes them such a bought concept in the past few years is their place in a messy dance and folk music overload. The band is keeping postpunk relevant! And in new and witty ways! Gedge sings in “Model, Actress, Whatever…” off recently released El Ray, “When I stare at youuu…okay, it’s just a jpeg. I have a few.” Or in “Soup,” he surprises us with a seinfeldian “No soup for you, no soup for you!” Except instead of snatching back a bowl of jambalaya, it’s a snatch back of sex. Or off Search for Paradise, “She always carries her iBook with her, but she never seems to work.” Okay, that line was whatever. But you get into his story.