Pitchfork

We risked overdosing on Tokyo Police Club on Forkcast last year-- looks like we covered them 11 times-- but they're the kind of band that seems made for the single, with a knack for making their case in two or three quick minutes. They worked their small handful of released music-- the 2006 A Lesson in Crime and 2007 Smith EP-- hard, making videos, playing TV shows of all kinds, offering up tracks for remixes, thus building anticipation for their full length debut, Elephant Shell, due in April on Saddle Creek. "In A Cave", the first taste of music from the forthcoming record, continues with what these young Canadian dudes do best, barreling forward with a bouncy herky-jerk rhythm, braiding together several strands of ringing guitar, and filling in the spaces with those Day-Glo chords that made "Nature of the Experiment" such a winner. It also serves as a title track of sorts for the record, as singer and bassist Dave Monks winds the song down with the lines, "Elephant shell/ You're my cave and I've been hiding out/ Will you tell me a little bit about/ A bit about yourself."

 

 

MP3:> Tokyo Police Club: "In a Cave"

[from Elephant Shell; due 04/22/08 on Saddle Creek in the U.S. and 05/05/08 on Memphis Industries in the UK]