:: Five Star Laundry

Motor Ace

The eagerly awaited debut album from promising young Melbourne band Motor Ace is a cracker. For the most part it’s a straight-ahead rocker, with the earlier singles providing a pretty accurate taste of what to expect, with just the occasional twist. It opens with the latest single, the punchy “Hey Driver”. With sharp riffs and wailing vocals, it grabs the attention. “Death Defy” is the next track, an earlier single, this song is full of catchy lines and anthemic choruses in much the same vein as subsequent releases, “American Shoes” and “Criminal Past” – both of which are present on this CD. An interesting track is “Budge”, it eschews the big choruses going for a downbeat feel, similar to Radiohead or Kent this track hints at a potential to be unearthed. Highlights for me are the awesome “American Shoes”; I reviewed this single and loved it first listen, and still do. “Chairman of the Board”, this song is a good example of the theme that seemingly weaves itself into many of the tracks on this record, that of the personal choice between sticking to your morals and beliefs or selling out for material success. “Siamese” is another track that veers away from the tried and true big chorus formula and it’s very rewarding. The final two tracks, “Criminal Past” and “Money and Sympathy” close out this magnificent debut nicely. This is a very good release from a young band with huge potential.