These Girls Fall Like Dominos

This is a ridiculously big sounding album, big in the same way that a whole lot of records from the mid-90s Britpop era sounded; i.e., slightly pretentious, overflowing with confidence and more often than not catchy as hell. Listening to The Big Pink’s debut, A Brief History of Love, I get the impression that my brain is telling me that perhaps I shouldn’t like this as much as my tapping foot does.

Had this one been released before the summer season, A Brief History of Love probably would have raced up my own personal top summer-albums chart. With densely layered guitars and electronics, many of the ingredients were there from the get go for this one to be a grand slam of summer pop music fun. However, with the pending twilight of the autumn season fast approaching, A Brief History of Love’s flaws become a bit more apparent in that The Big Pink scatter themselves and their influences a bit too thin. Just when you’re settling into one particular groove, the record goes and turns 180 degrees in a different direction, giving the listener little time to catch up and reacquaint themselves with their surroundings.

While the band is completely dedicated to their craft, it inevitably can become a bit too much when dealing with a smorgasbord of waaayyy too many ideas. Seriously, it’s all there: the psychedelic leanings associated with acid house from the late 80s (Frisk), the fuzz-laden guitars of the early 90s (Crystal Visions) as well as the call and response anthems that made Britpop so much fun (Dominos) for a short amount of time. And if one doesn’t think of later-era Verve when listening to Love In Vain then there must be something seriously wrong with my memory. I suppose if anything, A Brief History of Love would have been a stellar 7-song EP

That being said, this is in no way derivative towards the overall entertainment factor derived from many of the songs found on the record as there’s plenty to shake your head and dance to. It’s just that A Brief History Of Love isn’t as consistent as many of us hoped it would be after hearing Dominos for the first time.

The Big Pink – “At War With the Sun” (mp3)

(from the eMusic download, A Brief History Of Love, 2009)

Higher Than The Stars

While they’ve already been the curators of one of this years more talked about albums; jumping from 300 + capacity venues to a prime afternoon slot at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival all within the span of 5 months, its nice to see that The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart aren’t coasting on the runaway success of their debut album by giving us some brand new material.

The Higher than the Stars EP consists of four brand new songs that lean not as heavily on the early 90s showgazer influence that was found a’plenty on their debut. Instead, the band broadens the twee, pop sound earlier explored on the song, "A Teenager In Love" from the debut; giving the EP more of balance between the ultra-fuzz sounds of My Bloody Valentine and the chiming guitars and dance beat of St. Etienne, adequately displayed on the song below. A solid EP that gives a perfect taste of the sound the POBPAH strive continuously to achieve.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Falling Over” (mp3)

(from the Slumberland 12”, Higher Than The Stars, 2009)