*U.K. pressing.
Contains 1 bonus track and 16 tracks total.
Country: AustraliaGenre: Synth Pop
.FLAC via Mega (Link)
.AAC 256 kbps via Mega (Link)
© 2008 Modular Recordings
AllMusic Review by K. Ross Hoffman
In Ghost Colours
announces itself, calmly but majestically, with a wash of hazy voices
and fluttering keyboards giving way to crystal-clear acoustic strums,
languid indie pop vocals, a sturdy dance-rock groove, pulsating
electro-disco synths, swirling Caribou-style
psychedelics, and an ethereal, vocoded chorus melody. Squeezing all of
that into one song -- the effervescent "Feel the Love" -- is an
ambitious move: in most hands it would come out sounding like a
bewildering mess but Cut Copy
manage to keep it light, breezy, and utterly ebullient. Even more
impressive is that they're able to replicate the trick repeatedly across
this remarkably assured sophomore album. Colours
boasts at least a half-dozen potential summer anthems for dancefloors
and headphones alike, seamlessly strung together with subdued
interstitial mood pieces that help make it more of a nuanced work than a
straightforward collection of relentlessly upbeat dance jams.
Undeniably, though, the dance jams are at the heart of the album, from
the unstoppably glittery opening trio (leading up to the anthemic
slow-burn disco of single "Lights and Music") to the rough-edged rock
drive of "So Haunted" to the pure synth pop bliss of "Far Away." Indeed,
this is in many ways a perfect summation of the dynamic, multifaceted,
hipster-associated independent dance music of the 2000s, a motley
interweaving of pop, rock, and electronic dance elements into a
kaleidoscopic array of interconnected styles, some strands of which have
been summarily, imprecisely tagged ("disco-punk," "electro-house," "new
rave,") but which as a whole remain resolutely, gloriously nebulous and
undefined. (Though nevertheless undeniably prevalent, and never more so
than in 2008, following triumphant runs by LCD Soundsystem, Justice, and Simian Mobile Disco.)
Cut Copy's music bears all the prominent hallmarks of its era: giddily omnivorous stylistic appropriation, a sensuous, sybaritic (though not, in their case, seedy) demeanor, and the distinct evocation of bygone decades, most palpably the ubiquitous post-punk/post-disco '80s, without succumbing to the pitfalls of overzealous eclecticism, empty hedonism, sugary glut, and blatant derivativeness. Or rather, they do show traces of all of these things, but they play each one off as a strength, always in moderation, and never to the detriment of the music. The eclecticism is there but it's fluid and cohesive rather than distractingly showy; their influence-dogging plays like affectionate homage rather than pointless mimicry; there's an abundance of gleaming, even gaudy surfaces, but they're just too rapturously enticing to entertain qualms about superficiality. It surely helps that they have one of the primary architects of this sprawling scene, the DFA's Tim Goldsworthy, on board as a producer and mixer. More importantly though, beneath its perfectly formed surfaces this is truly an album of songs -- a surprisingly rare thing in this milieu -- with simple but resonant melodies, carried by Dan Whitford's appealingly casual delivery, which help alleviate a slight tendency toward sonic sameness. This is evident not only on the gentler guitar-based numbers, like the loping "Unforgettable Season" and the oddly country-inflected "Strangers in the Wind," which temporarily scale back the dancefloor euphorics, but the out-and-out burners as well, combining with the peppy basslines and nagging chorus hooks to create something all the more transcendent. To be sure, In Ghost Colours is a triumph of craftsmanship rather than vision -- a synthesis and refinement of existing sounds rather than anything dramatically new and original -- but it is an unalloyed triumph nonetheless, and one of the finest albums of its kind.
Cut Copy's music bears all the prominent hallmarks of its era: giddily omnivorous stylistic appropriation, a sensuous, sybaritic (though not, in their case, seedy) demeanor, and the distinct evocation of bygone decades, most palpably the ubiquitous post-punk/post-disco '80s, without succumbing to the pitfalls of overzealous eclecticism, empty hedonism, sugary glut, and blatant derivativeness. Or rather, they do show traces of all of these things, but they play each one off as a strength, always in moderation, and never to the detriment of the music. The eclecticism is there but it's fluid and cohesive rather than distractingly showy; their influence-dogging plays like affectionate homage rather than pointless mimicry; there's an abundance of gleaming, even gaudy surfaces, but they're just too rapturously enticing to entertain qualms about superficiality. It surely helps that they have one of the primary architects of this sprawling scene, the DFA's Tim Goldsworthy, on board as a producer and mixer. More importantly though, beneath its perfectly formed surfaces this is truly an album of songs -- a surprisingly rare thing in this milieu -- with simple but resonant melodies, carried by Dan Whitford's appealingly casual delivery, which help alleviate a slight tendency toward sonic sameness. This is evident not only on the gentler guitar-based numbers, like the loping "Unforgettable Season" and the oddly country-inflected "Strangers in the Wind," which temporarily scale back the dancefloor euphorics, but the out-and-out burners as well, combining with the peppy basslines and nagging chorus hooks to create something all the more transcendent. To be sure, In Ghost Colours is a triumph of craftsmanship rather than vision -- a synthesis and refinement of existing sounds rather than anything dramatically new and original -- but it is an unalloyed triumph nonetheless, and one of the finest albums of its kind.
tags: cut copy, in ghost colours, colors, 2008, flac,
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