Despite not currently belabelled, the duo (for they are two) stride on with preparing a 2nd album after their self-titled 2011 debut. However, with little to set them apart from the rest of the Scandi pack, like Tove Styrke, Rosannaand even Niki and her dove before them, Vanbot are unlikely to see online acclaim translate into sales. Hold This Moment is not a patch on their first single Make Me, Break Me, but it's still worth a few repeat plays before the next "new Robyn"pops up.
First of all, is it just me or are the two t's in the word Heartthrob annoying in their back-to-backness? No? Just me? Anyway, this, the 7th album by Canadian twins Tegan And Sara (their first in 4 years), has been branded a disappointing descent into the mainstream, but to my mind they have always been an indiepop act. Heartthrob, out now, simply tips the balance a little further towards the pop side.
With much of the production being producted by Greg Kurstin (one half of The Bird And The Bee and knob-twiddler -not a lesbian jibe- on hits by All Saints, Kylie &c.), Heartthrob packs more of a pop punch than the duo's previous outings (again, not a lesbian pun). Lead single Closer, their first point blank aim at the UK market, is the most poppy track on an album that otherwise deals with downbeat themes hidden beneath slick, uptempo tunes.
The music here is mostly straight-forward - I'm Not Your Hero is an adventure in insecurity, whilst I Couldn't Be Your Friend charts the prickly disintegration of a relationship. Now I'm All Messed Up tries in vain to be poignant, and I Was A Fool is like Bournville chocolate - smooth, yet plain. Generally their harmonies are taut, and the songs catchy, and it all builds up to the final track Shock To Your System, in which they stray into Niki And The Dove territory:
With its apocalyptic intro, driving beat and disillusioned vocals ("Who gave you reason?" is a haunting repetition), its certainly the most alternative and evocative track on the album. Elsewhere, the tone isn't worlds away from the bruised yet hopeful leanings of other Kurstin clients such as Kelly Clarkson or Pink. That's not necessarily a bad thing - it gave them their highest US album chart placing at #3 - but it gives me a sense that they should experiment with the darker sides of electropop next time round.
Likely to be new to approximately 0% of Sky Ferreira's fanbase, Everything Is Embarrassing is finally getting a release in the UK on an EP of the same name. Originally featuring on 2012's Ghost EP, this is a slice of of despondent, 80s disheartened pining not too dissimilar to Losing You by Solange, and is the kind of comedown song you listen to after a night out dancing with a broken heart.
It's her first release on these shores since the criminally overlooked One (#64 in Summer 2010), and although it shares a similarly imploring tone, Everything has a much more mature sound. With an ominous computerised male vocal a la Jessie Ware's If You're Never Gonna Move and subtle instrumentation, it may be too much of a grower to hit big - but it definitely teases great things from her long overdue debut album I'm Not Alright (release date TBC).
Fresh from getting trolled by a Tumblr hater who basically called her a rip-off of "DIY" act Grimes, and compared her unfavourably to fellow major-label act Sky Ferreira (curiously, all 3 of them appeared together on the cover of V Magazine back in the Autumn), Charli XCX releases her 6th (!) single this week.
You (Ha Ha Ha) samples a track by Gold Panda of the same name, and mixes obscenity-laden Kate Nash stroppiness with MIA-style beats. Her vocals shift seamlessly from sung-spoken verses to the triumphant, booming chorus, and is a return to catchy form after the dreary You're The One. This should mark another tiptoe towards the mainstream, in the massive game of Grandmother's Footsteps that is Charli's achingly slow rise to fame.
Ever since Eurythmics hit big in the early 80s, there has been a set formula for male/female electropop duos. The girl sings, and is the face of the band, whilst everyone wonders in this post-Bat For Lashes world if it's a moniker or indeed a band name. The guy does all the serious music stuff behind the scenes, and whilst she is the focus of interviews he comes across quiet and mysterious (read: personality bypass). The golden rule is that at least one of them has to dress like Mr Benn vs. Brick Lane and dye their hair unnatural colours.
New duo MS MR (aka Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow - try naming them after a few drinks) may or may not fit those categories. What's certain, however, is that they have already been making huge waves on the internet's metaphorical ocean. It's clear to hear why - MS MR's Hurricane is the kind of "dark pop" Natalia Kills/Verbalicious wishes she could make, and the supporting clip is David Lynch meets Lana Del Rey's Video Games:
Charting popular culture all the way from the bright side (a snippet of ABBA's Take A Chance On Me video) to the dark (a scene from 80s low-budget horror film Xtro), to the downright weird (at 1:10 there's a naked man holding an expensive breed of cat) - the subliminal images flash by so fast that stopping the video to catch up would ruin the song.
Caught somewhere between the melancholia of Desires, and Summer Camp with extra lashings of ginger depression, Hurricane chills you from the moment the intro drops. The haunting continues with their thunderstorm of a followup Bones, which, like Hurricane, is taken from the EP Candy Bar Creep Show:
Whether or not MS MR are Mr and Mrs (she's taken a feminist stand but refused to change her title by changing her original title to an ambiguous title - how hipster), remains to be seen. That said, the angst has got to come from somewhere, so if anything they're probably divorced.
Either way, their debut album Second Hand Rapture is due out in May.
The cynic inside of me wonders if Haim, the new hotly-tipped 3-piece sister act from L.A., really deserved to win the BBC Sound of 2013 competition. In the Autumn, adverts for their Don't Save Me video were popping up all over Youtube, and that sort of exposure doesn't come without a foot in the door and the backing of a major label.
Besides, being nominated for the Sound of... prize is somewhat of a poison chalice - Marina & The Diamonds anyone? - and Haim appeared to be well on their way to success already. That said, their debut single proper is the definition of an earworm, with a vibe so quintessentially Californian that it gives Fleetwood Mac a run for their money and leaves Katy Perry in the shade. The video (this decade's answer to Fragma's Toca's Miracle) completes the energetic atmosphere:
Notwithstanding the track's surprisingly poor performance (#32 UK, a low-charting first outing is seemingly par for the course for Sound of... selections), Haim have clearly got a knack for a good tune, and lead singer Danielle's Michael Jackson-esque vocal tics complete their Summery, familiar vibe. Just like their similarly infectious label-mates The Pierces, Polydor are bound to give their career more life than their tragic teen idol namesake, starting with their next single Falling:
