Rock Plaza Central Are We Not Horses by: Grace Arena Mon:15-Oct-07 Label: Yep Roc Year: 2007 WB rating 78 out of 100

Rock Plaza Central have weaved animation and electricity into Are We Not Horses, a concept record about mechanical horses engineered to think they are real horses and the exploration of their simulated mortality. Blending a euphoric mix of folk, hillbilly, parlour and alt country genres to produce a bombastic sound comparable to that of Neutral Milk Hotel, RPC’s acoustic guitars, brass, and towering vocal warbles are sometimes outlandish and always ambitious.

RPC use this combination of genres to flesh out the good-versus-evil and designed-versus-natural arguments spun throughout the album. The eccentric and seemingly childish subject matter of horses is deceiving, as beneath the equine metaphors is a complex story about the struggle for identity, right and wrong and the competitive nature of our society. The delivery of this narrative has foundations of traditionalism, warped and ornamented with a discordant piano and vocals with raucous accentuation and falsetto. There is an appeal to Are We Not Horses because of this verbose and heavily conceptualised nature, lead singer Chris Eaton experimenting with the tone and tenor of his vocals, while the dynamics remain strident and constant throughout, informing us “We have a lot to be glad for”. There is nothing delicate about this album - the compositions are loud, in your face and each track encompasses its own individuality that demands to stand out in its own right.

The strength of We Are Not Horses is in Eaton’s wordplay and ability to weave the story of these horses into a workable yet obscure album that is somehow easy to relate to. Melodies often take a back seat to the realisation of this theme, and the rusty and sometimes spontaneous tone in Eaton’s voice is more about reaching the song’s emotional core than delivering hooks – his voice bluntly cuts through any delicacy that may have manifested with the gradual build up of brass and strings on the tracks.

The animation and electricity is felt from the beginning of Are We Not Horses with the first simple strums of the opening track, singer Eaton triumphantly declaring “I am an excellent steel horse!” This imagery is a striking contrast to the simplicity of a single guitar, birthing these robotic android horses which dominate our listening. Eaton steers the crescendo of sound and leads the listener to pick up every facet of the band's arrangements, inviting them to join him in his fantasy of “unparalleled lighting force” and “finish line(s)”.

The feeling of spontaneity throughout the album is endearing, and is especially evident on the track ‘Anthem for the Already Defeated’. Here the embellishment from the saloon-like piano and sweet tones of the violin combine with the strength of the brass section and tone of Eaton’s vocals to deafening and defiant highs, punctuated by lyrics declaring “we cannot be defeated” and “we will shake our arms forever in the night”.

There is no way to describe Are We Not Horses other than unique. The use of horses instead of a more traditional protagonist can distract from the real tale of humanity: the joy, hate, love, desperation, complexities of life and the struggle to find our own identity, but because of this lyrical emphasis it isn’t long before the listener is ensnared and begins to understand the logic behind what may first appear as madness.