Yellow Melodies - Life

The Yellow Melodies (Rafa Skam, vocals; Pilar, bass; José Ángel, drums; and Carlos, keyboards) are a jangly indie pop band from sun-soaked Murcia, Spain who have quite a lot in common with California power pop and psychedelia. Their new album 'Life', their eighth, is full of innocent melodies, gleaming guitars, excellent 60's harmonies, and clever little musical gestures and flourishes. Their influences are obviously Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, Television Personalities, BMX Bandits, Monograph, the Wedding Present, the Pastels, Pooh Sticks, Temples, Church, the Merrymakers and Carrots. Not surprisingly their love and enthusiasm for all variations of POP (in all caps) has extended to three albums of cover songs and contributions to tribute albums to BMX Bandits and Television Personalities. They even covered a Wombles Christmas song recently. While not listed as influences, there are reminders of the Knack’s mellower moments, the uninhibited glee of the Monkees, and the harmonies of the Flamin’ Groovies, but from a culture totally untouched by Puritanism and its suspicion of pleasure. 'Life' is so cheerful and fun, devoid of cynicism, it could be poached for an American orange juice TV advert featuring a passel of good-looking young people playing beach volleyball. The Yellow Melodies’ musical approach on 'Life' is technically polished as well as unironically happy, from the opening sounds of a playground on the title track to their undaunting positivity on 'Everything', with singer Rafa Skam cajoling the listener, who seems to be having a rather rough morning after, to “forget about last night, enjoy the day/Realize that everything you do is brighter now.” 'Don’t Think Twice' bears no resemblance at all to the biting Bob Dylan song of the same name but features wonderful fuzzy mid-60's mod guitar. 'Our Time is Over' is a downright friendly, completely non-melancholic break-up song: “Is this the end of something or the start of something beautiful?” That’s not the only reference to beauty on 'Life' either. The band’s reassuring, upbeat lyrics are quick to point out all the beauty in the world, repeatedly with the firm confidence of someone who believes that everything is going to turn out just fine.