The Id

"Dreams of the Dreadnought" (Album, 2002)

Morphic

On the accompanying press release, English two-piece The Id describe their music as "experimental eclecticism" but I wonder if that shouldn't be 'finding your feet in public'? Maybe The Id intend to chuck all sorts into their musical blender and see what happens for the rest of their life? Maybe, maybe not. Still, there's no denying that the debut album Dreams of the Dreadnought comes as something of an antidote to the manufactured pap that fills the popular airwaves.

This is faintly, faintly mind you, close to the Wasp Factory stable both in philosophy and sound. I was highly sceptical at first - the vocals doing nothing at all to begin with... but it does grow on you. Coincidentally, Voice features probably the best vocals of all, managing to span the extremes of hard and laid-back pretty well. The hippy/spacerock/grunge thing is a bit unpleasant at times but we'll put their down to immaturity. The instrumentals at least are more successful. Curiously, the first track is quite possibly the worst thing on the entire album. My advice starter for ten would be don't make your worst track your first track.

There's an old skool punk attitude and, apart from their pro-environmental stance, no ideological restraints to their imagination. Trouble is, this isn't as good as the band seem to think it is. It isn't so much 'experimental' as 'undisciplined'. The mellow stuff like Throw may not be their most avant garde side but it is one of the best things here. It's also satisfying to welcome another Manchester band that has no interest in following the Oasis route and The Id deserve as much credit for what they hope to achieve as for what they actually already do.

There's little here that some diligent hard work and practice wouldn't sort out. The key thing for The Id is that their free thinking does give rise to some interesting song structures and genuine unpredictability. If they can build upon that then maybe, just maybe they'll last a long time and manage to coalesce their plodding Sixties doom and exploding Sulpheresque screams into something altogether more successful. 5/10

Rob Dyer (12-04-04)

Official The Id website: http://www.idfoundation.com