Victorian English Gentlemen's Club – 'Victorian English Gentlemen's Club' review
If the Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club had made this debut album eighteen months ago, things may have been different: the Shoreditch art-rock cognoscenti past and present would be name-checking them and a Mercury nomination would surely beckon. But as Babybird and Menswear will tell you, jumping on a bandwagon marked “Britpop” too late is a dangerous game that prompts cries of copycat, cynic, mercenary and dullard, regardless of your talents.
Sadly, this is more likely to be VEGC’s fate, because despite their debut’s intelligence and punch, saturation point has now been reached in the post-punk shouty quirk market, leaving VEGC sounding predictable, unremarkable and entirely forgettable. “When I’m dead and gone the world will carry on,” they sing on Dead Anyway. You can’t help but agree.
5/10
