Ballet - Matchy Matchy

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 27 / 11 / 2019

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Review

I can honestly say that I have totally missed out on The Ballet until now, which is a bit strange, as they have been compared to one of my all-time favourite bands, the Magnetic Fields, ever since their first self-released album came out in 2006. But better late than never, right? ‘Matchy Matchy’ is the duo’s fourth album, their first since ‘I Blame Society’, which came out in 2013, and when listening to the opening track ‘Looking’ I understood the comparisons to Stephin Merritt’s iconic pop orchestra immediately. The label also namechecks Hidden Cameras and Swedish indie crooner Jens Lekman in the press release, and they’re not that far off really. Greg Goldberg and Craig Willse creates (often) catchy pop tunes with lyrics (often) about the queer community in one way or another, which is something that definitely can be said about the aforementioned Hidden Cameras. And even though I like this album, with some of my favourite songs being ‘Looking’ and ‘First Time in a Gay Bar’ (which made me think of the brilliant Don Lennon, who released his third album ‘Downtown’ on Secretly Canadian in 2001, an album which is now mysteriously erased from the label’s catalogue), I can’t help but miss the melodic genious that is Mr Merritt. I know, I know. It’s not fair to continue making these comparisons, which I bet The Ballet is sick and tired of by now, but they’re making it really hard to avoid it when they name a song ‘Your Boyfriend’, a song that sounds quite a bit like ‘I Thought You Were My Boyfriend’ by… yup, you guessed it… the Magnetic Fields. Well, maybe ‘Matchy matchy’ is a grower, so I will keep playing it for a while longer…

Track Listing:-

1 Looking
2 Jersey
3 But I'm a Top
4 I've Been Wondering
5 Love Letter
6 Your Boyfriend
7 20
8 Messing Around
9 Cry Baby
10 First Time in a Gay Bar
11 Am I Dreaming
12 You're Mine

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/theballetnyc/
http://www.thepirateship.org/
https://twitter.com/theballetnyc

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

Have a Listen:-