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| Track List: 1. Dreaming 2. The Polaroid Song 3. Silver Dollars 4. Kiss Your Lips 5. Heartbeat Chilli 6. If Loneliness Was Art 7. Woody Allen 8. Let's Go Swimming 9. My Heart is a Drummer 10. What Will Be Will Be Running time: 37 minutes Released: 2010 |
Now this should freshen things up!
Allo Darlin' was another purchase based on a discovery on LastFM and it quickly became a firm favourite. The first song I heard was Kiss Your Lips and it was infectiously fun, happy and generally great. I then picked up the album and found that there were 7 other songs just as good or better. The other 2 I am not so keen on. The group play infectious indie-pop with personality and energy and are just awesome to see live.
The infectious happiness in this album starts immediately. Nice, bright, catchy upbeat drive and a his/hers duet with interesting voices. It just oozes positivity around a simple clean structure and a hook that lasts the distance without getting dull, only to be blown away by the twangy-ness of the line that starts The Polaroid Song. Both of these tunes are busy. They are not massively deep or layered but there is a very strong simple theme and the pacey nature of playing quite a lot of notes, in jaunty fashion gives the impression of so much going on it is hard to keep up. The actual song about Polaroids is actually quite a laid back/reflective number which makes for an interesting contrast with the highish tempo. I find both an absolute joy.
That sentiment does not go away yet either. Silver Dollars has a similar structure (upbeat bass, fairly high tempo) but more space for the vocal and more separation of tune and rhythm. It contains one very strained rhyme that has always bugged me slightly (rhyming platonic with tonic is perhaps less the issue than the delivery of the line, but still...), but otherwise it continues the theme of really cheery, charming tunes and catchy music.
Kiss Your Lips changes pace a little. It is noticeably slower, but no less catchy. I know I am sounding like a raging fanboy here, but there is something immediate and instinctive about my reaction to these songs - an unlocking of buried joy - that I cannot really explain. I doubt many people that know me would type me as the hipster who gets in on cult indie darlings but that is pretty much exactly what happened when I heard Allo Darlin' first. Just blown away by some emotional response to their genuine fun.
Heartbeat Chilli is the first of the two songs I do not much care for. Much slower and simpler it loses the energy and enthusiasm that is, for me, the real selling point of Allo Darlin'. It is also a food-centric love song and just typing that phrase seems so fundamentally wrong! Thankfully it is just a mid-album interlude in the infectious pop. Loneliness is less upbeat to start but it grows on you before the cheesy sha-la-la's kick in. As a long term singleton there are elements of recognition in this; these are geeky love songs, which somehow makes them more palatable to me than more traditional pop love ballads - I am a massive geek after all. That said, she could be singing about strangling cats on Mars for all I care. I note the words as I listen but really I am here for the the simple wonder of it, and for basslines and snazzy tempo to die for. Woody Allen has both in spades and my foot starts tapping as I type. I cannot stop smiling. It's not even my favourite song from this disc!
My favourite track, by a country mile, is My Heart is a Drummer. So joyous. It starts slow then explodes into full on catchy jangly goodness and the delivery of the chorus still gives me goosebumps. The bridge is so infectious it is unreal. Having seen a tent full of folks of all ages jumping up and down to this in a sweaty ecstasy once, I would give quite a lot to do so again but these days I do not get to as many gigs as I used to. Living in a small town not a tour spot, not knowing people who share my tastes. It saddens me some.
The album ends on a more reflective note. What Will Be Will Be is the second track I could take or leave most of the time. It is really nicely done and really it only suffers here because the rest of the album is such a favourite, and because the disc is short, you are not worn out enough to appreciate the slow-down fully.
When I bought this, almost 4 years ago now, it went into the car and stayed on a constant play cycle for an age. I put it back in often. The magic has not faded. Two later albums have come since - the second just a couple of weeks back. They have not grabbed me in the same way, but Europe was a grower, and I am hoping that We Come From the Same Place will be too. Allo Darlin' may be the best band you have never heard of. From my experience I would say listen to this disc if you get the chance - even if it is not normally your thing. You may think it trite hipster shite, or you may find, like I did, that there is something inexplicably necessary about this music.
Music is about emotional responses and this album produces one of my most enduring. A little ray of sunshine in the dark autumnal gloom. These days there are few things that I would blanket recommend, but Allo Darlin' has a quintessential simplicity and joy about it, I would quite happily do so. I do do so. It will not be everyone's cup of tea, but if even one person has the same magical reaction to their work that I did then the world is a brighter place.
That sentiment does not go away yet either. Silver Dollars has a similar structure (upbeat bass, fairly high tempo) but more space for the vocal and more separation of tune and rhythm. It contains one very strained rhyme that has always bugged me slightly (rhyming platonic with tonic is perhaps less the issue than the delivery of the line, but still...), but otherwise it continues the theme of really cheery, charming tunes and catchy music.
Kiss Your Lips changes pace a little. It is noticeably slower, but no less catchy. I know I am sounding like a raging fanboy here, but there is something immediate and instinctive about my reaction to these songs - an unlocking of buried joy - that I cannot really explain. I doubt many people that know me would type me as the hipster who gets in on cult indie darlings but that is pretty much exactly what happened when I heard Allo Darlin' first. Just blown away by some emotional response to their genuine fun.
Heartbeat Chilli is the first of the two songs I do not much care for. Much slower and simpler it loses the energy and enthusiasm that is, for me, the real selling point of Allo Darlin'. It is also a food-centric love song and just typing that phrase seems so fundamentally wrong! Thankfully it is just a mid-album interlude in the infectious pop. Loneliness is less upbeat to start but it grows on you before the cheesy sha-la-la's kick in. As a long term singleton there are elements of recognition in this; these are geeky love songs, which somehow makes them more palatable to me than more traditional pop love ballads - I am a massive geek after all. That said, she could be singing about strangling cats on Mars for all I care. I note the words as I listen but really I am here for the the simple wonder of it, and for basslines and snazzy tempo to die for. Woody Allen has both in spades and my foot starts tapping as I type. I cannot stop smiling. It's not even my favourite song from this disc!
My favourite track, by a country mile, is My Heart is a Drummer. So joyous. It starts slow then explodes into full on catchy jangly goodness and the delivery of the chorus still gives me goosebumps. The bridge is so infectious it is unreal. Having seen a tent full of folks of all ages jumping up and down to this in a sweaty ecstasy once, I would give quite a lot to do so again but these days I do not get to as many gigs as I used to. Living in a small town not a tour spot, not knowing people who share my tastes. It saddens me some.
The album ends on a more reflective note. What Will Be Will Be is the second track I could take or leave most of the time. It is really nicely done and really it only suffers here because the rest of the album is such a favourite, and because the disc is short, you are not worn out enough to appreciate the slow-down fully.
When I bought this, almost 4 years ago now, it went into the car and stayed on a constant play cycle for an age. I put it back in often. The magic has not faded. Two later albums have come since - the second just a couple of weeks back. They have not grabbed me in the same way, but Europe was a grower, and I am hoping that We Come From the Same Place will be too. Allo Darlin' may be the best band you have never heard of. From my experience I would say listen to this disc if you get the chance - even if it is not normally your thing. You may think it trite hipster shite, or you may find, like I did, that there is something inexplicably necessary about this music.
Music is about emotional responses and this album produces one of my most enduring. A little ray of sunshine in the dark autumnal gloom. These days there are few things that I would blanket recommend, but Allo Darlin' has a quintessential simplicity and joy about it, I would quite happily do so. I do do so. It will not be everyone's cup of tea, but if even one person has the same magical reaction to their work that I did then the world is a brighter place.
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