The Burton Cool Suit You Can't Fight City Hall by: Tom Perry Tue:05-Feb-08 Label: Love Is My Velocity Year: 2007 WB rating 60 out of 100

Ah Perth, oh how your shores continually amaze.

It’s a city that is no longer challenging Melbourne’s title as Australia’s music capital. No – the battle’s been fought and won, with Perth now proudly flying the flag. With a constant stream of talent emerging out of this fair city, names like The Kill Devil Hills, The Avenues, Fourth Floor Collapse, The Panda Band and Snowman now consistently discussed with respect on Australia’s east coast alongside bigger name acts like The Panics, Sleepy Jackson, The Waifs, Little Birdy and the John Butler Trio (not to mention icons like The Triffids, Hoodoo Gurus, Baby Animals…). There really must be something in the water over there. (So much so, in fact, someone’s made a movie about that very topic www.somthinginthewater.com.au).

And with You Can’t Fight City Hall, The Burton Cool Suit have staked their claim to be added to the above list.

With some of the aforementioned big names creating what some would consider to be trend-driven radio tunes (I’m looking at you, Eskimo Joe and Little Birdy…), it’s the fact that there’s nothing particularly fashionable here that makes You Can’t Fight City Hall a welcome surprise. Yes, there are plenty of hooks, harmonies and songs about falling in and out of love; this certainly isn’t anything we’ve not heard before. Yet if you combine The Burton Cool Suit’s obvious love of parent-friendly pop sounds of the 60s, with the simple fact that they’re from Perth – you can’t help but be pleasantly surprised.

You Can’t Fight City Hall is the second full-length release from the 4-piece, The Burton Cool Suit forming in mid-2003 as a mix of members from ‘90s/’00s Perth-based indie pop groups Turnstyle, The Bank Holidays and The Rainyard. It’s a confident record that sets a cracking pace. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, their sound one that simply has stemmed from an obviously genuine love of an oft-dismissed genre.

Opener ‘SQ’ is the most straightforward ‘genre’ track on the album, carrying the whole spectrum of ‘60s surfer sounds – organ, cheesy riffs and oh-so-simple lyrics: “It’s too late/Don’t worry/It’s ice cold/It’s so sunny/Don’t worry, I’m worried now forever”. While such a description may seem worrying, it is when You Can’t Fight City Hall ventures as directly as possible into the genres that it’s replicating that it hits its highest notes. The album’s highlight ‘I Get Out of Breath’ is the case-in-point: over-emphasised, Western-style guitars playfully working with three-part harmonies, all of this punctuated with obvious attempts at an audience sing-along. Whilst on paper this may sound like a recipe for overdone cheese, its lack of pretension allows it the currency to succeed.

‘Shark!’, ‘Swampi Swami’ and title track ‘You Can’t Fight City Hall’ hit their intended targets too. All existing in a playful, schoolboy garage rock vein, as a collective they are reminiscent of Weezer’s Blue Album. However, with all of the above strengths listed, for those looking for something new – or at least a few twists on something old – you aren’t really going to find anything here. Weezer, The Bees, They Might Be Giants et al have trampled this territory many times before – and this record sounds note similar. But of course if you’re a fan of those bands, that isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world.

Any band that can channel a mix of 60s garage, surfer/TV sitcom pop and do it with this much currency is at least worth checking out.