The Blue Van – Man Up
  1. The Blue Van
  2. Man Up
  3. Iceberg Records
  4. myspace.com/thebluevan

The Blue Van – Man Up

Geographically speaking, Denmark’s The Blue Van is on the verge of a number of musical worlds. To the north is Sweden’s bountiful indie rock garden, to the west is the ripe old homeland of the British Invasion, and to the south is an endless supply of German death metal. When it came to crafting its own sound, The Blue Van created what is, for them, the perfect amalgamation of these elements: a very modern and upbeat indie rock with soulful and rocking guitar. (Yeah, sorry, they left out that death metal. Good choice on their part.)

Take “Lay Me Down and Die,” for example. This track starts out with a softly picked electric guitar and a bluesy vocal line, converging into an all-out rock and roll song that makes it obvious these guys listen to a lot of Cream, Beatles, and even Hendrix (which is not a comparison of skill, before anyone kills me, just a comparison of style).

These songs are fun a satirical, with tongue-in-cheek lines like, “You want to fit in with the crowd that’s never there,” on “The Socialite,” which makes fun of snobby hipsters that simultaneously go to all the parties while acting like they’re too cool to be there and saying, “I don’t dance. I don’t sing. To be honest, I don’t do a damn thing. Well, we go out every night.” The guitar work is slightly dark, as is all soulful rock like this, but it’s still fun and dancy, as on the bitter “In Love with Myself.” A guest rapper provides a verse on “I’m a Man,” followed by a saxophone solo, showing the creative diversity of this band and their ability to really just make things jam. The huge pedal effects on the climbing guitars in “Put My Name in the Sand” bring a strong ending to this album that almost reminds me of some of the early British progressive rock bands such as Uriah Heep (with electric keys to boot).

While I love the sound described above, I have two main complaints with Man Up. The first is that a few songs, such as the opening “Be Home Soon,” are a little too Killers-esque in their vocals and dancability. Had these songs been left out, the album would be a lot tighter and solid as a whole. The other issue is that an unromantic reference to oral sex in “There Goes My Love,” kind of ruins the song from the beginning, even if it is a lot of fun musically. Besides those two things, this a great album from a band with huge potential. Check it out if you like big, soulful, 60s rock guitars mixed with fun, cutting-edge indie rock.

7/10