The Go Find – Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight

I’m guessing that The Go Find’s Miami wasn’t one of your favourite records of 2004. That’s fine, really, since it wouldn’t have been one of mine if Boomkat weren’t selling it very cheap in one of their end of year sales, and if, back then, I hadn’t been able to afford to spend money on all kinds of random things, especially if I was encouraged to do so by everyone’s favourite online electronica-based record store. Miami was a brilliantly understated pop record, crackling with ideas and a kind of lo-fi intimacy that could only have come from a man fresh from leaving his reasonably successful band - Orange Black had support slots with Pavement and Stereolab - and hiding himself away to write a “solo” record. It’s an album that continually surprises me by just how much I like it. A completely unassuming Belgian pop record, that I could have no idea would stand the test of time. Still, six years on, I listen to it with strange regularity.After 2007’s mildly disappointing Stars on the Wall, Dieter Sermeus is back with the wonderfully titled Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen Only Not Tonight, an effort that attempts to return to the simplicity of his new band’s debut. Stripping back the production reveals Sermeus’ strength at crafting hooks around tight and tidy rhythm sections, and here he takes an almost Spoon-esque approach, cutting away any nasty unnecessaries and giving each instrument its breathing space. It’s a strange effect of intimacy by removal, and lends an isolated quality to the vocals, which float and bounce on top of the songs, never feeling in danger of being swallowed into the mix.This is important: there is something charming, in the least patronising way possible, about Sermeus’ control over the English language. His simple metaphors, that coming from someone with English as a first language, and without his delicate, naïve voice, would sound preposterous, take on a quality reminiscent of Matt Berninger’s deliberately vague and shadowy lyrics. That’s maybe a bit of an overstatement, but Sermeus certainly has a way of suggesting a whole lot more than he means.The title and opening track here is the one that feels most like it could have come from The Go Find’s first album, and conversely, it’s probably one of the record’s weaker moments. While there’s nothing adverse about the songwriting on display, the fact that it pushes the six-minute mark runs against the grain of all Sermeus’ best work so far, his controlled, tightly-constructed three minute wonders. Thankfully he launches a swift recovery, one that upholds for the rest of the album, each song brings at least one fresh smile and hook that persuades you come back for another listen.The Go Find aren’t a band, I feel, that are going to be leaving their comfort zone any time soon. Without ever doing anything hugely unpredictable, they fill a niche and they fill it really very well, even if they fail to set off any fireworks doing so. I wouldn’t bet on myself still regularly returning to this particular album in six years time, when I’m reviewing their fifth album, but who knows? The Go Find are a band who manage to surprise me even while they’re being completely unsurprising.