Highlights: White, The Doors Of Then, The Great Outdoors Bitches,
A Gain
There’s no question that
Kurt Wagner is all over this thing. In fact, Oh No I Love You (nice title, by the way) is like a more pop-oriented version of Lambchop’s
latest, Mr. M. A very refined,
classy-sounding record drenched in orchestration and exquisite melancholy. Pop
music for snobs.
Tim Burgess used to be
in the fairly run-of-the-mill Britpop band called The Chameleons (capable but
never particularly impressive). His solo career, though (this is his second
album), offers something different: it is more about vibes and mood and things
like that. Still, the songs are there, and pop confections like the single “White”
or “The Great Outdoors Bitches” are sublime. The few country-esque numbers (“The
Graduate” and “Anytime Minutes”) are fairly unexceptional and some of the more
atmospheric material might sound beguiling but still rather underwhelming (“A
Case For Vinyl”). However, it’s impossible to deny the elegant, funereal charms
of the 6-plus minute “A Gain” that brings this album to a very calm, tortured,
fitting end.
Like it or not, this is
impeccable stuff. Impeccably composed, impeccably produced. Oh No I Love You is the sort of album I could recommend to fans of
classical music who wish to try pop. As well as to the rest of you.
7/10
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