Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Goodluck Jonathan

This is Our Way Out

Label: Something Nothing Release Date: 11/07/2011

77356
Rudiger_Mund by Andrew Kennedy July 11th, 2011

Do you think that somewhere in Nigeria there is a band called David Cameron? To be fair, I can’t imagine anyone naming one of their kitchen utensils David Cameron, never mind a rock band. But it is a funny old world, and if it is okay for Brighton’s Goodluck Jonathan to share a moniker with the President of Nigeria, why shouldn’t our Dave have a band named after him as well? (Sadly no matter how apt, Anal Cunt doesn’t count).

Admittedly there are benefits to sharing a name with the President of Nigeria. Millions of people globally know the name of your band. You can save on printing costs by using surplus electioneering propaganda (Although in doing so you’ll be limited in naming your future albums ‘Vote for Me’, ‘Nigeria Deserves Better’ and ‘I Am Your Man!’) Heck, if you’re lucky there might be a booking error which results in you being flown first class to the UN Headquarters in New York. Possibilities are limitless, yet there are drawbacks.

The part-time Reverend Run lookalike (See Wikipedia photo – it’s probably just the hat though) and full-time President has cited the artistic endeavours of these five chaps from Brighton as evidence that he is an influence on British culture. If they are being utilised as political tools when they are nobodies at the start of their musical career, God knows what’ll happen if they sell any records.

This Is Our Way Out is described by the band as “Our attempt to capture and savour every moment, emotion and complexity of our youth.”

With this mission statement Goodluck Jonathan hover between being earnest dreamers and pretentious wankers. Not quite the exalted territory you would wish to inhabit on first impressions.

The record is a compilation of three previously released EPs, a collection of loud songs cut from the same arty post-hardcore cloth as fellow noiseniks And You Will Know Us By Our Trail Of Dead and Yourcodenameis:milo. If the quintet have indeed fulfilled their lofty mission statement and successfully documented their youth with this album, then I don’t really envy them. It feels a bit bleak. Cheer up lads, it’s just a bit of acne. You’ll grow out of it.

As you might expect from a collection of EPs you can see an evolution, of sorts. Opening track ‘Bruises Disappear’ has its moments whilst ‘Fatman’ overcomes its shoddy title to prove durable, a much better listening experience than you might have anticipated.

Title track and album closer ‘This Is Our Way Out’ indicates where Goodluck Jonathan may venture on future recordings. It contains strains of ambition and vision almost non-existent throughout the rest of the album. Nothing else really stands out from a solid collection of songs. Overall it feels like they have limited themselves to a dated genre. Who knows why.

  • 6
    Andrew Kennedy's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Gillian Welch

The Harrow & the Harvest

Mobback
77354
77355

Marconi Union

Beautifully Falling Apart (Ambient Transmissions, Vol. 1)

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND