|
 |
Bishop Allen
Grrr...
Review By Jesse Jarnow
It's possible Bishop Allen is as simple as it seems: concise, hummable indie rock from New York. Its third album, Grrr..., seems to confirm this in a maddeningly pedestrian way. Specializing in meat locker hooks delivered mega-cutely — like Vampire Weekend minus the Peter Gabriel influence — its last album, The Broken String, was one of 2007's guiltiest and sweetest guitar pop pleasures. It was, y'know, Beatlesy, but also sleek and metropolitan. Songwriters Justin Rice and Christian Rudder continue the trend on Grrr...., but the hooks seem to have gotten a little duller, the self-effacing voice-cracks and lyrics a little less endearing.
"Am I just a little glimmer, like a tiny bobbing head of an ocean swimmer," they sing on the opening "Dimmer," tucking the child's refrain "olly olly oxen free" ever-so-neatly into the lyrics. "Cue The Elephants," with its powerful chorus, recycles the main tricks of 2007's perfect "Shrinking Violet," sped into a mild gallop, and also answers the central question. Yes, Bishop Allen is simple as all that: plenty concise, though just mostly hummable now. Sometimes it's right and necessary to sing anthropomorphize "a tragic little tea-cup" (as it does on "The Lion and the Teacup"). But, sometimes, the teacup needs to get broken.
|
