Unfortunately, the disconcerting reality is that so many of the new bands that us music blogs construct new ways to be hyperbolic about won’t actually make it round to making an album of any note that will be remembered in one year’s time, let alone ten. So the fact that THUMPERS are having to give away faultlessly put together disconsolate pop songs like ‘Velveteen’ that didn’t even make the cut of their debut 7”, ‘Dancing’s Done’, is more than encouraging.
It’s hardly like melodically driven indie pop is much of a startling revelation, so it says a lot that that description actually comes nowhere close to conveying the appeal of the London based duo. Essentially, it’s a simple idea, but one that THUMPERS are doing immeasurably better than most of their contemporaries. ‘Velveteen’, though more reticent than their singles, draws you into a patiently more insistent vocal which swells into an emotionally charged male/female chorus. It feels unmistakably disconsolate, yet somehow euphoric, and for pulling off that balancing act alone, you may as well go and pick up their debut 7”. You never know, if all goes according to plan, you may even find yourself picking up an LP of theirs’ one day – for my self-respect, let’s hope so.
After a surge of internet scribblings that threatened to make him 2009’s latest buzz-band-fatality, Wolf Gang has played it calmly and slowly, and is now enjoying the benefits of that approach. Yesterday, new track “Something Unusual” surfaced, another track from debut album ‘Suego Faults’ (out 27th June). And it is actually far more unconventional than most hyped artists dare to attempt, stretched out with a languid chorus, before diving into a verse more similar to his usual glam pop theatrics. It may not quite stray into Panda Bear territory, this is, after all, a pop song, but you’ve got to hand him some credit for not writing “Pieces Of You” a dozen times, slapping an album name on it, and letting the record label do their marketing tricks.
The trouble is, many hyped artists are written about solely on the basis of one or two songs, so, for them, where is the incentive to step out of that comfort zone and try something else? Blinded by what seems like success just around the corner, an enormous amount of these artists end up releasing completely lacklustre albums with no depth and variation. By playing things slowly, Wolf Gang’s allowed some time for his sound to develop, managed to avoid the apparently enticing lights of the spectacularly average indie-artist’s lifestyle, and is instead poised to deliver an album that stands a far better chance of justifying the hype than many, many of his contemporaries allow themselves.
After all of that… ‘Suego Faults’ had better be bloody amazing.
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