Here’s an album that I’d listened to a couple times over the year but never really gave it a real listen. Having revisited it the last couple days I’ve realized how good of an album it really is. They’re yet another band in a long line of bands through the last couple of years that have stepped into the time machine and walked out into the mid 80s. Unlike a lot of those bands, Chairlift take a more sunnier approach to nostalgia. Something is an album that had it been released in 1983 it would’ve had at least two or three radio hits. Bands like Diiv, The Soft Moon, and Wild Nothing have taken to the sound of early 80s as well, but they would have been confined to college radio and BBC Radio. Chairlift would have had a shot at some serious radio play. I’m talking Casey Kasem. Sunday morning America’s Top 40.
Caroline Polachek isn’t afraid to emote. She can go from Nena-like pop fun to Kate Bush extravagance at the drop of a hat. Production is fun and danceable; then can move into big and emotionally gripping the next. Patrick Wimberly always keeps the songs interesting, and you never get that same-y feeling that a lot of retro-centric bands seem to let permeate their albums. You get warm, dance/pop songs like ‘I Belong In Your Arms. Then a few songs down on the track listing you get that cold, British new wave(think New Order and Cocteau Twins) on the song ‘Amanaemonesia’. Sweet and sour. Ying and yang. Digital and analog. There’s a variety of music to enjoy. Caroline and Patrick pull from a big body of work–over a couple decades–and make something quite enjoyable and very easy to return to. Check out ‘Frigid Spring’ if you want proof. Has a 60s pop whimsy to it that begs to be used in some indie flick. Maybe during a dating montage between to kids running around downtown Chicago. Or Rome.
It’s nice going back at the end of the year and revisiting some of these albums. I should probably do that with a few others: like Ty Segall’s Twins. Or Animal Collective’s Centipede HZ. Or Swans The Seer. Alas, there’s only so many hours in a day, and quite a few of those hours are dedicated to things other than listening to music. But that’s the great thing about music; it’s not on any sort of time frame. You can catch up on it whenever you feel like it. It’s not milk. It’s not gonna spoil if you don’t consume right away. There’s no expiration date on a slab of vinyl.
Enjoy at your earliest convenience.
Complex Distractions 