Simon Says No! - Simon Says No!

  by Tara McEvoy

published: 7 / 4 / 2011

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Review

All those who thought dreamy, distortion-drenched pop died out with the end of the nineties should give the thought-provoking eponymous album from Bergen upstarts Simon Says No! a spin. From the track 'Exit' (which ironically begins the album), redolent of hypnotic riffs and thick layers of distortion, one can pick up a clear Cocteau Twins/My Bloody Valentine influence, yet the band offer a modern twist to the genre. The album isn’t all sighed vocals and wall-of-noise instrumentation. A slight punk influence can be felt through the tribal drum tattoo and wailing strings of the rollicking ‘Solitary Rush’, and ‘See Me Through’ even has an Stone Roses-esque feel. As the strung-out beauty of ‘Reverse’ bleeds into the raucous euphoria of ‘Midnight Romance’, it becomes clear that you’d dismiss Simon Says No! as just another bunch of shoegazing no hopers at your peril – their dreamy, atmospheric brand of music speaks more loudly of star gazing than anything else. It mightn’t be packed full of sing-along opportunities, there may be no obvious fists-in-the-air moments, it mightn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if Simon Says No" does anything, it may make you question the way you look at music. The band has deconstructed traditional format and structure, challenging in itself, yet perhaps even more surprisingly – they’ve made it work, and what’s more, they’ve made one of the most idiosyncratic, exciting and interesting albums of the year so far.

Track Listing:-

1 Exit
2 Solitary Rush
3 Sigh
4 See Me Through
5 City
6 Illusion
7 Para Cirkus
8 Reverse
9 Midnight Romance
10 Cut-Off Orange
11 Systematic