The Cinematics Provide “A Strange Education”

The Cinematics: Adam Goemans, Ramsay Miller, Scott Rinning, Ross Bonney.

What’s refreshing, even reassuring, about up-and-coming Scottish rockers, The Cinematics, is that their music, at least to this ear, does not obviously sound like their chief influences. The Glasgow-based quartet of boys from rural Dingwall – “The Viking Capital of Scotland” - claim their biggest inspiration from The Talking Heads and The Clash, and yet neither band comes to mind when first hearing The Cinematics. Instead, as the wildly divergent teachers of Mick Jones and David Byrne would suggest, The Cinematics deliver singular but interesting tunes to prove their musical background has indeed been A Strange Education, as their debut album from TVT Records is named.

Curiously, The Cinematics are not the first buzz-worthy band from the Glasgow area to stress the importance of learning in an album title. Power popsters Teenage Fanclub did the same with A Catholic Education, their debut LP in 1990. Fellow nationals Franz Ferdinand appear to be steering clear of this microtrend for now.

If any common thread runs through The Cinematics’ delightful singles thus far, it’s the guitar-driven and melodic nature of the music. Take “Chase,” which is laden with hooks and soaring vocals that summon the spirit of the late Jeff Buckley. “Break,” recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, rocks tightly courtesy of a naughty, persistent bass line that generates pleasant memories of a staple of the early 90s D.C. scene, Shudder to Think, whose Pony Express Record was a similarly hard to classify achievement.

More on The Cinematics after the jump.

Of course, a minor occupational hazard of The Cinematics self-described “melodic guitar music of the emotional variety” is that it inevitably encroaches on familiar, but certainly not unwelcome, territory.

The jagged outset of “Break” yields into the atmospheric, moody guitars of The Cure, while the single “Keep Forgetting” at times hints toward The Edge’s trademark jangly playing, and more.

Listen to the song, “A Strange Education,” to find an opening weirdly reminiscent of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name,” followed by the requisite throbbing bass line.

Catch The Cinematics this month as they embark on a U.S. tour with The Bravery. Those guys, who last time around made a splash with their New Wave revival, release their follow up, The Sun and The Moon, today.