Manifesto
It's easy for pop musicians to get a complex about being taken seriously in the music world. We've been through the 80's fetishists attempt to reclaim pop music via forced kitsch, and we've seen would-be pop singers succumb to the trend du jour by lacing their otherwise straight-ahead songwriting with up-to-the-minute studio trickery that is bound to sound dated in a few years. Luckily, Sing-Sing are smarter than this. On "The Joy of Sing-Sing," they get down to the business of making pure, catchy pop music with a tried and tested set of sounds and production techniques that never get old if they are used in the right way. And they are here, as evidenced by the fact that I woke up this morning with their single "Feels Like Summer" repeating on infinite loop in my brain, and I didn't mind. While most of the press surrounding Sing-Sing seems intent on comparing this album to the two songwriters' previous body of work, and ultimately telling you what this album IS NOT (it is, after all the product of people who have been involved with other bands) I feel like it's more interesting to tell you what Sing-Sing IS! It's bitter-sweet lyrics about friends and lovers that falls nicely between the two unbearable extremes of chic lounge indifference and embarrassing heart-on-sleeve open-ness. You won't know what side of the bed singer Lisa O'Neil wakes up on, but she's also not so flippant towards her miniature tales of personal connections that you don't lose interest. And therein lies the allure of Sing-Sing. The looped beats and layered guitars are interesting enough to draw you in while delicate vocal harmonies allow you to take the songs with a grain of salt, or to pour your heart and soul into every crisply recorded breath. Sing-Sing is pop music for people who remember liking pop music at one point, and aren't afraid to like it again, but don't want to have to like it with their tongue always planted firmly in cheek. Sing-Sing write songs that take three minutes to move from point A to point C by way of B without drawing attention to the formula that makes them work, and are intelligent enough not to be seen as a guilty pleasure. This is the kind of album that will make you want to go to a show and (gasp) buy a t-shirt again. It can be easy to get stuck in a rut of listening to nothing but 'serious' music, and we all need a break now and then, and Sing-Sing has the perfect recipe. It's music you don't have to get involved in to enjoy, but it' that much richer if you do. Oh, and Emma from Lush is in it.
It's easy for pop musicians to get a complex about being taken seriously in the music world. We've been through the 80's fetishists attempt to reclaim pop music via forced kitsch, and we've seen would-be pop singers succumb to the trend du jour by lacing their otherwise straight-ahead songwriting with up-to-the-minute studio trickery that is bound to sound dated in a few years. Luckily, Sing-Sing are smarter than this. On "The Joy of Sing-Sing," they get down to the business of making pure, catchy pop music with a tried and tested set of sounds and production techniques that never get old if they are used in the right way. And they are here, as evidenced by the fact that I woke up this morning with their single "Feels Like Summer" repeating on infinite loop in my brain, and I didn't mind. While most of the press surrounding Sing-Sing seems intent on comparing this album to the two songwriters' previous body of work, and ultimately telling you what this album IS NOT (it is, after all the product of people who have been involved with other bands) I feel like it's more interesting to tell you what Sing-Sing IS! It's bitter-sweet lyrics about friends and lovers that falls nicely between the two unbearable extremes of chic lounge indifference and embarrassing heart-on-sleeve open-ness. You won't know what side of the bed singer Lisa O'Neil wakes up on, but she's also not so flippant towards her miniature tales of personal connections that you don't lose interest. And therein lies the allure of Sing-Sing. The looped beats and layered guitars are interesting enough to draw you in while delicate vocal harmonies allow you to take the songs with a grain of salt, or to pour your heart and soul into every crisply recorded breath. Sing-Sing is pop music for people who remember liking pop music at one point, and aren't afraid to like it again, but don't want to have to like it with their tongue always planted firmly in cheek. Sing-Sing write songs that take three minutes to move from point A to point C by way of B without drawing attention to the formula that makes them work, and are intelligent enough not to be seen as a guilty pleasure. This is the kind of album that will make you want to go to a show and (gasp) buy a t-shirt again. It can be easy to get stuck in a rut of listening to nothing but 'serious' music, and we all need a break now and then, and Sing-Sing has the perfect recipe. It's music you don't have to get involved in to enjoy, but it' that much richer if you do. Oh, and Emma from Lush is in it. samples:
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