Life in general is a swirl of emotions. For me, those emotions are intensified by gloomy weather, much like the weather blanketing Starkville today.
Pretty Girls Make Grave is in my CD player.
The music casually tosses me to the brink of tears and back again in a single song. The album as a whole completely takes over.
Pretty Girls’ new album, The New Romance, is fabulous.
Without a true indie record store in Starkville, chances are you have never had a chance to listen to Pretty Girls’ debut album. In lieu of actually hearing the album, here’s a simple quote from one of its many prolific lines: “Do you remember what the music meant to you?”
Their debut, Good Health, was met with much indie acclaim, and thus vaulted Pretty Girls onto a somewhat less obscure record label, Matador (Belle and Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Interpol). Despite the inability of most bands to follow up on a very successful debut, Pretty Girls have arguably released one of the best albums of the year.
With soaring guitar, searing synths and a heartfelt voice, The New Romance is something to be reckoned with.
With a rhythmic tap at the rim of a snare, the album begins with a decidedly underpowered opening. By the end of the first track, “Something Bigger, Something Brighter,” Pretty Girls has already picked up speed.
The rest of the album follows suit with Pretty Girls’ recognizably brash guitar work and gut-wrenching lyrics.
The album is not a simply continuation of where the band left off. Instead, the guitar is much more understated, leaving room for an incredibly confident Zollo.
Where on the first album Zollo sang with a typical emo-rock girl’s voice, she brings a mature and defining quality to this album. She shines on “Something Bigger, Something Brighter” as well as on the relatively slow “Holy Names,” revealing an earnest, emotional frontwoman.
Zollo could easily stand alone on the album, but luckily she never has to. The guitar is no longer the focal piece of the band. The introduction of a very well placed synth and drum machine adds a needed depth and an oh-so-trendy, new-wave quality. Lastly, backup vocals and the controlled chaos of the drums work to layer the final product into something that greatly surpasses the straightforward, supercharged initial album.
My only complaint is with the ninth song, “Holy Names,” which should be the last song on the album to really round out the essence of the work.
Track down a copy, order online or borrow. Regardless, listen to this album two or three times and let it soak in. Do not dismiss the album as trite-let it occupy every thought.