Pop tunes that will make jaded indie kids dance
By Jim Ray
MSNBC
Updated: 2:52 p.m. ET May 27, 2005
It??s not that Pitty Sing front man Paul Holmes doesn??t get the allusions to ??80s revivalist rockers like The Killers ?? or even the originals like The Smiths ?? it??s just that he doesn??t really appreciate the comparison. In fact, says the Manchester-born (that would be England) guitarist and lyricist, he??d rather listen to a rap album than rock out to what??s being hailed as ??indie? these days.
??The progression in rap music is really unparalleled,? says Holmes. ??It??s the one thing keeping up with reality. Rock music keeps going back on itself.? What??s most likely on his iPod? Underground club favorite (but soon-to-be-everywhere) M.I.A.
With the inevitable comparisons out of the way, Holmes and company present themselves as an incredibly ambitious band. Their eponymous first full length album starts off equally ambitious, with an orchestral prelude that blends right into a rock anthem, ??Hanging on Me.? The soaring guitar and drums certainly wouldn??t feel out of place in an arena in front of tens of thousands of adoring fans, a place Holmes make no apologies for striving towards.
The album continues with a sound that??s equally lush, edgy and crooning, with plenty of drawn out ??ooh??s? from Holmes, and a combination of ??80s synth and mid-??90s electronica. Pitty Sing??s heart is pure pop, though, minus all of the saccharine that normally rots the soul of the music.
??Telephone? is a gorgeously lush pop track with so many ??oh-oh??s? you half expect to see a 17 year-old John Cusack blaring it from a boombox in your neighbor??s front yard. ??Radio,? the clear single from the album were it not for the delightfully naughty lyrics, should manage to get all of the ??thin wrested boys,? as Holmes describes the typical indie crowd, to stop staring at their feet and even dance a bit.
Following an ethereal spoken word interlude that feels oddly out of place, ??Robots? closes the album nicely with an edgy guitar and vocals that depart from the rest of the album.
Of course, pure pop and the indie music scene don??t exactly make for the best of friends. For every warm embrace of pop (see: The New Pornographers), there??s certainly a healthy dose of mistrust ?? probably because of the unspoken rule that once something gains mass appeal, it loses any cool cachet. Holmes certainly recognizes this distinction, noting out the difficulty of ??not really being an indie band on an indie label.? Just as difficult is finding an audience amongst the hyper-consolidated radio market without a huge label able to afford massive payola backing.
Not that this is going to stop Pitty Sing from putting out more pure pop. Holmes promises that the next album, which is written and now awaiting studio time, is going to be ??as much of a pop album as ??Thriller.???
Whether this somewhat arbitrary distinction between pop and indie works for or against Pitty Sing remains to be seen. They??re set to begin touring on the East Coast with perpetual crowd pleasers The Futureheads, which should certainly raise their awareness, and no doubt continue to fuel their ambition.
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