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| So happy and bright, you may collapse under the strong beam of coloured plastic lamps. Or you might just drop your pretentions and love it. A tough call. |
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For once, let's skip introductions and small-talk, just drop the fronts and come out honestly. Yes, Bronze Age Fox is a totally stupid name for a band - so stupid, in fact, that I struggle to finger out the individual letters. In line with the very concept of 'good pop,' BAF (as they shall henceforth be known) unashamedly revel in their musical genre-cherrypicking, forming a lovely, almost amorphous, sticky mulch of electronic sounds, solid song writing and acoustic instruments. Part of me is yet again feeling stuck in a computer game, and in this album in particular it's Team 17's ancient classic platform romp, Superfrog (for those wondering, it's "Dinosaur" that carries me back). Here BAF succeed in producing work that, for some, will epitomise high quality pop, but for others will constitute merely yet another statement of confirmation added to the morass and banality of the pop world. So, let's have a dialogue:
A: What's the point? It's not really pushing any boundaries. It's all skin-deep niceness that'll wear out the more you listen to it.
B: Music should be enjoyed, and this is enjoyable to listen to. It's got great songs. It's happy!
A: But I enjoy music that's challenging and new and original and different. Yeah, it might sound nice, but it's not really drilling down to any real concrete ideas.
B: Why does music have to be about total newness? Music is often about gradual change. Isn't there any merit in going over old ground sometimes?
A: No. It can be painful to listen to something that may sound nice but doesn't actually have any meat on its bones.
B: But you'd just rather listen to stuff simply because it's 'new' and 'original' and not really think about whether it's actually any good!
A: And you'd rather just listen to stuff that retreads old, comfortable territory and doesn't bring anything new to the table because the idea scares you.
B: Elitist!
A: Reactionary!
And so that sums it up. The spangly, smooth electronic tones of BAF will appeal to many, and there is no denying the high quality competence of their songwriting and execution, something that will inevitably garner a lexicon composed of words like 'bright', 'sunny', 'futuristic' and (I certainly hope) 'spangly'. The problem is, however, that there is little challenging material that will last, and little ground is covered.
Perhaps Bristol-based BAF have been sent from bronze-age prehistory to make pop more palatable and less execrable. I would like to think so. |
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| Stuart Reeves - 6/10 |
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