Originally written by Kate Dornan · 4 June 2001
Tsar
Silver Shifter
Label: Hollywood Records Release Date: 04/06/2001
"Sounds like the Manics" is, of course, a tagline so overused as to be almost useless. That said, 'Silver Shifter' - the result, we're told, of an inter-band competition to write a two-note hook, which begs the question: is what you do with it gonna count? - bears a disturbing if indescribable initial resemblance to our Welsh friends' "Yes". Except that it's "Yes" on caffeine rather than vodka, and with a shinier aftertaste. Luckily, the B-side, the promisingly titled 'Kathy Fong Is The Bomb', kicks off in a more satisfyingly energetic fashion and features the phrase "she's got a semtex subtext", and is therefore tailor-made for stumbling, hair-shaking dancefloors everywhere. Bonus points both for succinct infectiousness and for spurious whooshing synth noises. Listen to the title track in order to formulate your own informed version of "sounds like..." and steel yourself for disappointment, then skip to the second and do that big old guitar-led dance like it's nineteen-ninety-anything.
• 7 Kate Dornan's Score