Smittens - City Rock Dove

  by Helen Tipping

published: 3 / 11 / 2018

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Review

The Smittens hail from Burlington, Vermont, where they formed in 2002. Starting out as a very twee indie band, they have become slightly less twee over the years, having a more poppy aesthetic to their music. The band are very much of the DIY princple not only writing the music, but creating the artwork for their releases and booking their own tours. This year saw them perform at Indietracks festival at the Midland Railway in Butterley, Derbshire, where they performed on the larger outdoor stage on Saturday afternoon. Their songs look at the political intertwined with the personal, 'City Rock Dove' starts off with 'Three States', a look at how people say what they want the other person to hear to get their way. In fact navigating personal relationships in the current climate forms the subject for a number of songs on this album, casting a light on changes to personal interaactions in these days of social media and realisations around gender fluidity. My personal favourite on the album is 'Infinity Pools', which has a Spanish sound and some Spanish lyrics. It’s a song about single people holidaying in Spain or Mexico, who knows, but Europeans and Americans will be able to relate regardless. With the songs being written by different band members, the music and lyrics keep the album fresh. It’s not all twee, and, although predominately relationships form the subject matter, it’s not all heterosexual love songs. The zeitgeist has infiltrated this album, whereas mainstream bands stick with boy meets girl heteronormativity. I hope this is a reflection of where we are going. Whilst old white men argue that boys will be boys and that women can be cast aside in the pursuit of power, the Smittens show us that life goes on outside of the mainstream.

Track Listing:-

1 Three States
2 Love is a Word
3 We're Gonna Fall
4 Cats for Cats
5 Season One
6 Second Choice Girl
7 Winter is Finally Here
8 Infinity Pools
9 Maybe It Is Me
10 Hi from Vermont
11 Kiss Me in the Morning
12 On the Back of Butterflies
13 Strong To Me (Warriors)
14 Prince of Sweden

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/thesmittens
http://www.smittens.com/
https://twitter.com/thesmittens

Label Links:-

http://fikarecordings.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fikarecording
https://twitter.com/fikarecordings
http://www.last.fm/label/Fika+Recordin
https://www.youtube.com/user/fikarecor