The Narcoleptic Dancers - Not Evident EP
- Written by Patrick Whyte
There is something fishy about The Narcoleptic Dancers. The press release that accompanies their debut EP spins out a serendipitous tale about how the band was formed – a half-brother and sister (Anton and Melody) united at behest of their dying dad – but the whole thing doesn’t really add up.
For a start there is no record of their father Johnny Van Kappers. A fact that is strange considering he was a professional footballer who played for a couple of reasonably well-known European clubs. The whole biography has more than a whiff of the implausible. It isn't necessarily a bad idea to play fast and loose with the facts: remember how the music press got all worked up about Jack and Meg White? No, the problem here is that it all feels so damn calculated.
‘Not Evident’ is all whispered vocals interspersed with handclaps and la la las – kooky doesn’t even begin to describe it. Even Zooey Deschanel would struggle with lyrics as insufferably twee as “I wish I could talk to the trees and have dinner with the bumblebees”. The rest of the songs on the EP play out in a similar way: cutesy singing on top of simple melodies. In places they work well. On ‘Rastakraut’ Melody’s vocals are enlivened by Anton’s glitchy composition, but elsewhere (on ‘Again and Again’ in particular) they meander and drag.
Harmless indie guff or a disingenuous attempt to create a buzz band? The fact that the group have employed directors Ramon & Pedro "to take care of their image" makes me think it’s probably the latter.