The Australians have turned out to be this generation’s Meh Meh Mehs.
Back in 2007 Australia’s Operator Please had a stab at being the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their effervescent punk pop single Just a Song About Ping Pong (which it certainly was) divided critics and fans between those who heard a subway-rhythm alt-pop classic and those who felt they were being beaten repeatedly around the head with a sped-up Gossip album. Sadly the band’s debut album Yes Yes Vindictive failed to throw out any further potential hits to help clarify the matter, so it’s to Gloves that we turn to learn whether Karen O needs to lose any sleep over the breath of OP’s Amandah Wilkinson on her neck.
The nays have it. Ironically released the week of Eurovision, Gloves ditches all pretence of garage grit in order to grasp at mainstream pop success. Opener Catapult attempts to bridge the gap with funk-punk basslines and slashes of the 80s synths that all bands were legally obliged to include on every album released in 2009, but it’s an inadequate smoke-screen. Amandah’s vocals are glossed and polished to the point of resembling ex-Go-Go’s poppet Jane Wiedlin, and indeed the album-wide likeness to Wiedlin’s 1988 hit Rush Hour doesn’t end there. This is undoubtedly a record that dreams of riding to the top of the charts on the back of a disgruntled dolphin.
Lees de rest van deze review op BBC CD recensies (Engels)
Bron: BBC Music