bronze age fox - compilation
the perfect ebay generation pop group have now gone and decided to spread their sweet radio friendly twisted pop music for all to hear. compiling their ever so limited debut ep, and the well documented (but very limited) shaped singles into one easily digestible bumper pack.
this compilation will certainly make my life easier.
when the original ep was released i wrote lots of nice things. well, the passing of time has not diminished those emotions one iota. the songs despite being recorded in various bedrooms still sparkles with harmony, wit and excellence.
and the rest ? well, dominic's vocals are the key factor throughout, the band reaches spots that haven't been as lovingly caressed in quite a while, with the weirdly clicks and bleeps interacting with real instrumentation provided by the sonic cohorts the songs burst into life being allowed to breathe, at last, in full hi-fidelity sound quality (you didn't actually try and play the shaped singles did you ?) so now we can properly hear the subtle laptop enhanced beats, the undercurrent swell of warp-esque electronica, the carefully layered guitars, the generous splattering of well positioned 80's synths, all alongside unusual extras like accordions and camera clicks. basically anything that they could get their hands on was turned into a source for sounds.
following the 4 tracks off the debut ep there's the rock party monster of 'dinosaur' with its beta band vocal breakdown set against a funtime groove, the prince funk of 'show me something more', horns and brass surface on 'instrument pt1', the serene calm of 'forty-four' with its tex-mex vs orbital genre clash, the romantic five and half minutes of 'benidorm', and to finish off, the lovely clarinet lead 'when things work out'.
throughout, the songs are strongly melodic and harmonious, yes, the fox may spruce up the aural surroundings with their playful experimentation, but the central core of the song is just that - the song. and in this the band excel in all aspects.
quite simply - perfect pop music.
now, does anyone still need a triangle or 2 to fill their collection ?