The Big Pink – ‘A Brief History Of Love’ (4AD)
So, here it comes, increasingly one of the most anticipated debut albums of the year. Set to drop at the same time as one of the most anticipated full sto
p -Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3, the acres of coverage that this album is set to receive seem certain.
And the thing is, it’s absolutely deserved. Whilst the risk of the charts clogging up with watered down versions of La Roux, Lady Gaga et al may get higher, Messrs Cordell and Furze, aka The Big Pink wander into town, like two gunslinger men come to take somebody down. Maybe that’s who ‘These girls fall like dominoes’ refers to.
Twenty years ago, this would probably have been called goth, and it totally fits that at any time over the last thirty years this would be on 4AD, a label who have consistently and rightly presented good alternative music as high art. The
enduring spirit of the Jesus and Mary Chain (particularly circa Honey’s Dead) hangs over this album, as does that of Spaceman 3 and My Bloody Valentine.
Yet this isn’t just another band in love with gothic shoe
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no prescription pharmacygaze and feedback. They’ve got their eye on the pr
ize and commercial success (Florence of the Machine sings on the b-side to ‘Dominoes,’ entitled ‘She’s No Sense’) without this being at the cost of their art and muse. I’m not sure why previous single ‘Stop the World’ isn’t on the album, but, no matter, this is an album that firmly makes its’ point, and deserves to clean up in the charts and the end of year best-of lists.
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A Brief History Of Love is released on M
onday
The Big Pink website/The Big Pink Myspace
The Big Pink –
‘Velvet’
The Big Pink -‘Too Young To Love’