published: 6 /
5 /
2009
Label:
Fortuna POP!
Format: CD
Fine, if by now sometimes formulaic third album of hook-riddled, fuzzed-up bubblegum pop from Cardiff-based group with a rapidly changing membership, the Loves
Review
Well, they say write about what you know, don’t they? And Simon Love knows hook-riddled, fuzzed-up bubblegum pop the way Labour MPs know the ins and outs of a House of Commons expenses form. As in ‘like a master’.
Nine years and 29 band members in, the Cardiff indie-pop megalomaniac and self-proclaimed not-so-benign dictator delivers the band’s third LP, ‘Three’. And while it’s undoubtedly a romping, stomping chantalong good-time of a record, it sees them suffering from Kaiser Chiefs syndrome too; as in you can imagine their songs being hollered from football terraces to G20 demos - but it’s not all that different from all their other stuff.
Three’s highlights actually materialise outside of Simon’s beloved bubblegum/garage/glam rock template. ‘Can You Hear My Heart Beat?’ raunches breathily in the spirit of Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’, ‘Kaleidoscope (In My Head)’, is a mini-opera about mental condition synaesthesia that even dips into country and western, and the downbeat, contemplative ‘Everybody Is In Love’, written when a spectacular personnel cull had reduced the band to its founder member, is possibly Simon’s only recorded moment of self-doubt.
The press release jokes: “The band have strayed away from their bubblegum pop roots to embrace world music, three-stringed lute madrigals, gothic metal and even hip-hop.” With Simon’s song-crafting skills, you can’t help wishing they would. Imagine what that would be like. Over to you, Loves.
Track Listing:-
1
One-Two-Three
2
Kaleidoscope (In My Head)
3
You Don't Have To
4
The Ex-Gurlfriend
5
Everybody Is In Love
6
Take 'Em Down, Charlie Brown
7
Ode To Coca-Cola
8
Love Song #7
9
Sweet Sister Delia
10
Can You Feel My Heart Beat?
11
Waiting For Tomorrow
Band Links:-
http://www.simonlove.org
http://www.facebook.com/simonloverules
http://www.twitter.com/simonloverules
Label Links:-
http://www.fortunapop.com/
https://twitter.com/fortunapop
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fortuna
Have a Listen:-