“Not the most original sentiment I ever heard.
So, what’s new?” (Soundbite on “I Liked The Boys”)
One thing that seems to have stemmed from the Facebook revolution is a constant stream of reunions. Christmas passed with many an offer of catching up with people who had left my life for one reason or another. I am yet to sample such strange pleasure, for there would always be a fear – and a certain sadness – that the exciting, fun-loving friends you had at school were now quite dull, lifeless and grown-up. Sadly, that’s how the return of THE LONG BLONDES feels.
On their first outing, the Sheffield band showed both a wit and an ear for a tune that didn’t make comparisons to city-mates Pulp hard to stomach. They created an album of glamorous pop songs that essentially placed Madonna in the north of England. The songs were honest, lyrically accomplished, and clear floor-fillers in Pulp’s Disco 2000. But it’s Disco 2008 for The Long Blondes, and everyone is stood back from the dancefloor, looking a bit too cool and awkward to dance, or do anything. Everyone’s going home alone tonight.
Early signs that this isn’t going to be a satisfying listen come with a needlessly extended version of recent single ‘Century,’ a song which is in complete deference to the band’s career so far. It sounds generic – early-Madonna breathiness over a direct rip-off of ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by Candi Staton. The chorus is one line repeated far too many times, and if this were a debut single, you would think that The Long Blondes were destined for a one dance-hit wonderdom.
‘Guilt’ sounds a little more like the band you remember, but a more world-weary version of them. There’s the flash of a good melody, but it just sounds like something they’ve done before, only less enthusiastic. Much of the music on ‘Couples’ is nigh on anonymous. It’s there because there is a need for a backing track. For example, the drumming on ‘The Couples’ is a purely functional beat. There’s no ingenuity in the arrangements, whereas in the past the music was all part of the charm.
It’s clear that Kate Jackson’s vocals are considered the asset of the band, taking the forefront on all of the songs. It has the feel of a solo album – Kate with a bunch of session musicians. But she has a really good voice for the songs, but not one so remarkable that it should dominate everything. “Here Comes The Serious Bit” highlights the problem in many ways – they’ve returned equipped with the same ideas, but they’ve diluted them. The choruses just don’t match up. “Here it comes, here comes the serious bit,” over a Sleeper-standard backing track. It’s not going to get you excited.
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Perhaps it’s that they need to work out which direction they want to go in. “Round the Hairpin” is a rather moody, trippy sounding number, but very much electronically generated. It’s the most interesting sound on the album – it’s the song that made me think they should perhaps ditch being an art-pop band and see where this side of things takes them. It’s a cracking tune, actually, so it would be nice to see them take innovations like this and run with them, rather than returning as a pale imitation of what they were. On ‘Nostalgia’ as well, they strip things down to percussion and keys on the whole and create something a bit different. It doesn’t stick to the standard format and this shows.
‘I’m Going to Hell’ closes the album with catchiest chorus but also with the largest sense of ‘I’ve heard this all before.’ By showing what they can do on the likes of ‘Round the Hairpin’ and ‘Nostalgia,’ it makes it all the more disappointing when they revert to type. Like many of the songs on the album, it’s not a bad song, it’s just not as good as their other ones, and if their live show stretches beyond forty-five minutes people will get bored.
This isn’t a terrible album by any means, it’s just a bit average. There are some flashes of hope, but the main thing is The Long Blondes need to seem like they’re a little more arsed. Definitely suffering from second album syndrome, there is still a future for them, once they develop and progress.
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