As we sit facing the harshest March for years, The Concretes' eternal sunshine should be comforting. Unfortunately it seems The Concretes have forgotten to add the charms and childish energy that made 'You Can’t Hurry Love' and the rest of their earlier tracks so memorable, and instead taken the ‘Twee 101’ route.
Which means that on 'The Chosen One', the first track from their upcoming new album, you have the acoustic guitars, the sighing female vocals, the cute lyrics, but nothing that separates it from something that’s been done a thousand times before. Points of reference are of course Belle & Sebastian and Stereolab, but the end result wouldn’t sound out of place on a Magic Numbers b-side collection.
'Reverberation' fares better than the a-side, Lisa Milberg’s vocals sounding stronger with the accompaniment of a single electric guitar and calming synth parts, but again it's instantly forgettable._
This release, like The Concretes' output overall, is harmless and in the right atmosphere quite pleasant, but it's not something that’s going to warrant repeated plays, at least outside of a saccharine induced stupor.
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5Jordan Dowling's Score