The World/Inferno Friendship Society

Red-Eyed Soul

(Chunksaah)

Record Review by Amber Henson

Apparently, ska is alive and well.  Or at least alive, but I didn’t even know that.  There’s also a punk quality to World/Inferno Friendship Society (in fact, they call themselves cabaret punk), but they’re too organized, too heavy on the horns, and too melodic to fit the punk bill.  Instead, there’s some essence of Barenaked Ladies and Squirrel Nut Zippers in Red-Eyed Soul.  It’s enjoyable, but spends most of its time being a little too over the top.

Jack Terricloth (what a great name, I hope it’s real—editor’s note: alas, it is not) has the perfect ska voice, with that quality to it that sounds like he’s giving it all he’s got throughout the album.  Of course, this means I can’t understand what the hell he’s saying 95+% of the time, but that’s the way it goes.  Most of the time Terricloth is accompanied by a saxophone and/or an accordion, and he’s singing about “the velocity of love” or just “ooooooo!”

There are darker songs, too, like their single “Only Anarchists Are Pretty,” featuring lyrics like “If we should be arrested, and if we should be shot . . . and if we don’t live…” but all to a swinging, happy beat.

They’re definitely interesting, you can’t deny them that.  I thought “Let’s Steal Everything” was especially odd because it has a “Hava Nagila” sound to it, and it made me think: between this song and Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl” popular music has taken a traditional Jewish turn that I don’t think anyone saw coming.  Although now Gwen’s yodeling, which she stole from Jewel...

Sorry, it’s hard to stay focused after the holidays.  “Me v. Angry Mob” starts “Hands up, who wants to die?”  Man, I’d hate to absently raise my hand then because I wasn’t paying attention.  Actually, it’s a song that makes me think that World/Inferno Friendship Society is kind of like My Chemical Romance if they went ska.  And there you go.  What else can I say?