Look, I don’t really want to drag the fashion choices of The Cigavettes’ guitarist into a discussion about the group’s single “Ready To Leave” but – when you wear one of those name shirts (ya know, like this) that clearly honors The Beatles in the attached music video, I’m going to go in and make the obvious comparison. “Ready To Leave” sounds like an early, super poppy Beatles song. Now, if I saw someone write “sounds like the Beatles” when describing music, I’d sorta of guffaw either because 1.) SO MANY musicians sound like them that using the Fab Four as comparison seems lazy as heck or 2.) because so many folks bust out The Beatles reference for music that doesn’t deserve it. Have you ever met someone who says The Beatles’ started rap music because of the drumming on that Sgt. Pepper’s “Reprise?” There aren’t enough drops in the world to relax my eyeballs after so much rolling.
Yet “Ready To Leave” legitimately warrants that comparison, and thus my eyes remain still. This might be because, based on my interactions with Japanese people at the local karaoke box, the only Western artists to really leave a dent on the psyches of the nation were The Beatles, Michael Jackson and The Carpenters. Yet, more likely, “Ready To Leave” just sounds the part. Relatively simple guitar chords organized in such a way as to replicate a sunny day bounce along while The Cigavettes’ lead singer does his slightly-dubbed thing. It’s easy-going stuff, but catchy enough that it should end up in some sort of clothing store commercial this summer if ad people in Japan are on top of their games. On the spectrum of credible Beatles sound-alikes, this doesn’t come close to touching on the arty aspirations of Elephant 6, but also comes off as more fun than, say, Oasis. Plus, that damn shirt. Listen below.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtfNfx8DvxM”]
(Credit to Neaux for spotting this first.)