- Artist
- Blonde Redhead
- Label
- 4AD
- Release date
- 16th April 2007
- Genre
- Indie
Lush, dream-pop with balls from NYC trio on seventh, and best album
The late Eighties/early Nineties are today’s cool young things’ musical period of choice. Curiously, while baggy informs the likes of Kasabian and The Twang’s laddy swagger and rave/acid house seeps out of everything from Klaxons to Simian Mobile Disco, the ethereal, shoegazer sound has remained a wallflower.
This seventh album from New York three-piece Blonde Redhead addresses this anomaly. Formed in 1993, vocalist Kazu Makino and twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace began as an art-rock combo in thrall to Sonic Youth. On an upward curve popularity-wise ever since, their sound has shifted away from the clanging guitars towards hauntingly elegant dream-pop reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.
Now, after previous album Misery Is A Butterfly’s rich melancholic sweep, 23 finds Blonde Redhead confidently bringing sweet melodies and twisting rhythms to the fore – then swathing them in otherworldly Interpol-esque synth and guitar-effected atmospherics. Thus 23 is their most accessible and likeable work to date.
The album’s statement of intent is album opener 23 – Makino’s Liz Fraser-esque wistful coo counterpoints the Pace brothers' hypnotic, driving beats and guitar distortions. It’s a haunting, but strangely hopeful mix that keeps BR’s sound away from the self-indulgent whimsy end of shoegazing’s tedious moments. Further highlights are the lusciously cool electro-pop of Silently and stunning album closer My Impure Hair – the offspring of an alternative universe where Kevin Shields oversees a Mazzy Star and Calexico jam-session.
23 disappoints when Amedeo Pace takes over vocals. SW and the Bloc Party-like Spring And By Summer Fall lack the grace of Makino’s voice and feel po-faced against 23’s general air of wonder and hope. These small gripes aside, Blonde Redhead have artfully created a compelling pop album. Plundering the less fashionable sound of a fashionable era has never sounded so cool.
More to try: One Dove: Morning White Dove Cocteau Twins: Blue Bell Knoll Slowdive: Just For A Day My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
