Bishop Allen delivers ferocious indie pop on their latest release Grrr...
Their bark and bite are both sugary sweet.
Bishop Allen
Grrr...
Released on Mar 10, 2009
Sometimes it’s a tough job to record serious pop music. Nine times out
of ten either people think it’s trite and cute or it’s sugary and an
afterthought to serious music. In these modern times “pop” music
usually gets lumped into the same category of top 40 hits where only
the strongest hooks and heavy promoted survive. Yet in the independent
music world there is a thriving underbelly of contemporary (and good)
pop music, and in that court Bishop Allen holds a key position. The
Brooklyn band was born out of the friendship between Justin Rice and
Christian Rudder and named after the street the two lived on in
Cambridge, Massachusetts after attending Harvard. The two key
performers are supported by a rotating cast of talented musicians,
weaving a musical quilt of nostalgic and hook heavy tracks, especially
with their latest release Grrr…
Grrr… is the follow up to the 2007 album, The Broken String,
and clocking in at just over thirty minutes it offers up a fine fare of
indie pop rock. The album starts with the slow pulsating “Dimmer” which
swells as the song floats along, accompanied by plucking strings and a
nursery rhyme chorus. The melodic mélange of music continues, and
includes my favorite track off the album, “Dirt On Your New Shoes.” The
band also has an interesting way of creating songs that sound like the
place of origin in their title. On “Oklahoma” the music has a twang and
a slight country feel where “Shanghaied,” has a tropical and East Asian
element to it, making songs that aren’t necessarily about a destination
still feel like it could be the soundtrack for that specific place.
Bishop Allen has a knack for adding afterthought instrumental
elements (muted brass horns, marimba, and even possibly a guiro) to
create subtle and diverse rich sounds to their brand of music. With
vocals being traded off between Rice and Rudder, you get both a male
and female perspective and sound, a refreshing break from bands with
just one lead singer. And even though the band is a small endeavor,
some of their songs seem like the type of music being made my a large
scale production like The Arcade Fire, with so many different musical
elements that create a vast yet cohesive array of music.
Overall Grrr… is a bright and cheery album, full of
multifaceted and catchy sophisticated pop music. It’s the perfect
introduction to a charming band that isn’t trying too hard with their
music but simply providing the world with some wonderful tunes and
incredible talent.
High Point
The wonderfully heartfelt and sonically crashing “Dirt On Your New Shoes.”
Low Point
I wasn’t crazy about the breathy “The Magpie,” a track that sounded like a CocoRosie cover in it’s delivery.
Posted by Lisa White on Mar 24, 2009 @ 6:00 am