Action Action - Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion

While Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion is sometimes repetitive and the gloomy, heavy Moog grows old, there are elements of creativity and talent on this album that are missing from so many others.

From the remnants of upbeat indie pop bands The Reunion Show and Count the Stars comes the dramatically darker and more personal Action Action. Unlike their previous bands, the influences here are more Depeche Mode and The Cure than Blink 182 and Weezer. The music that results is refreshingly different, yet somewhat odd in the way the listener doesn’t react. It’s not quite danceable, not catchy enough to sing along to, and not loud enough to blast at a party. You don’t feel like a badass while it’s pumpin’ in your car stereo with the windows down, and yet it is not one of those albums that you play to unwind and fall sleep. You don’t play it when you’re in a good mood, and you don’t play it when you’re in a bad mood. But damn, it does make awesome background music.

Action Action is a band with a unique sound and potential; what hurts this album is a lack of song differentiation. “This Year’s Fashion” is a great track in its stripped down simplicity, which proves to be the band’s greatest strength. “Drug Like” is a memorable highlight, as is “Photograph,” a lighter song reminiscent of The Cars, and the only track similar at all to The Reunion Show. The rest of Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion sounds like Reggie and the Full Effect or Motion City Soundtrack, if they were beaten and stripped of their power chords, sugar, and Prozac. Most of the album is overwhelmingly bleak and moody with little song variety. As a result, many songs get lost and it can be difficult to focus on the music.

While Don’t Cut Your Fabric to This Year’s Fashion is sometimes repetitive and the gloomy, heavy Moog grows old, there are elements of creativity and talent on this album that are missing from so many others. Action Action display a strong band chemistry and solidarity on their debut, especially considering that the ashes of their former bands have barely settled and few live shows have been played. This album displays an innovative sound that will no doubt grow over time. Let’s hope Action Action lasts longer than The Reunion Show and Count the Stars.

(Victory Records)