Apache Beat - Last Chants (2010) [Babylon/Beverly Martel] // Grade: B

Brooklyn’s Apache Beat have all the elements to stand out scattered across their debut, Last Chants and in quite a few ways, most notably the tight production and captivating voice of lead singer Ilirjana Alushaj, the newcomers do leave the lasting impression of standouts.

The band look to the base elements of the Talking Heads’ sound—pop, art rock, funk, world beat, post punk—combining the styles in free-flowing arrangements that mix the instrumental with the vocally led. Even in the company of Alushaj’s arresting, throaty voice, the sounds of Last Chants are unexpectedly calming, a collection of shady ramblings pushing the message to slow down, and take your time.

“Knives” kicks the album off to false start, but only because Alushaj’s voice leaves such a strong impression when leading a well-developed melody. Over the steady push of percussion, she shines immediately with a tone of mounting punk folk. With such a talented and unique-voiced frontwoman at the helm, it’s interesting that Apache Beat fought the choice to make her vocals the carrying force of the album. From her dark drone on “Walking on Fire” to the Sleater-Kinney suggestive “Nightwares” Alushaj’s voice is the most unique element on an album of instrumental sounds that while pleasing, we’ve heard countless bands draw from before.

Apache Beat seem to want to push their instrumentation as the album’s strength, going as far as to interject several instrumental-led breaks (“A Break in the Light”, “It Will Be”, “Another Day”, “Momentary Alignment”). Of these interludes, “It Will Be” and “Another Day” are the most successful through their inclusion of vocals as backing to the instrumentation.

Apache Beat have work yet to do in honing their songwriting formula, but with Ilirjana Alushaj at the front and tight production established early on, Apache Beat are only going to get more solid with every release.

- Scrooge McFuck