It's winter, and while it's been a rather warm one, it's still been rainy and of course, dark. As I look around the piles of recent and forthcoming releases and loads of mopey bedroom-made electronica demos in boxes I'll never open, it's painfully hard to find solace from dreariness. Thankfully I've got some time to catch up on Aberdeen.
Aberdeen's one of the most unsuspecting groups to get a collection like this as they only ever had one album in the span of about 10 years of existence. Although they were born in the shoegaze/dreampop world nobody could ever accuse Aberdeen of being dreary. Even if the songs are about bitches stealing boyfriends, fear, or hatred, the music was always bright and uplifting, but then this twee thing happened.
History won't regard Beth Arzy as one of her generation's voices nor will they regard John Girgus as a guitar god, but from their demo-sounding first few songs with the drum machine backing through the recordings from their only album, 2002's Homesick and Happy to Be Here, there is always something charming and inviting. The collection isn't without its weak spots, however.
The best stuff is almost always the simplest and where they shine are on songs where they keep easy melodies and put the effects way up, like the rhythmic echoing of "Fireworks" from 1995 or the bouncy "Snapdragon" from the same year (but different singles). "The Boy Has Gone Away" was a single from Homesick and is featured here with its two non-LP tracks and while I love both Girus and Arzy's vocals together on "Miss You While You're Gone," I'm kind of bugged by the seemingly vocal posturing of the Girgus-dominated "Emma's House" and "Florida."
Their entire career of recorded material can be obtained with this disc and Homesick. While I'm not rushing out to get that nor pursue more Trembling Blue Stars (of whom Arzy now sings for) Aberdeen songs do come in handy on mixes or on radio shows when there's that need for an extra bit of brightness.
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