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The appetite for quirky pop that was whetted by their recent 3 track EP is well and truly sated with the debut long player from Scando five piece, the Envelopes. Now based in Blighty, the completion of any recorded product is a tale of immense commitment bearing in mind that for three years the band’s members were split between Paris, Malmo and Stockholm. Only well timed co-ordinated holidays and cheap transport enabled them to gather to practice. Like all good stories this one has a happy ending and the album currently wearing out my player is the marvellous results of this perseverance.
The single It is the Law is both the pinnacle and starting point of the album. Sounding like a discordant and unsettling New Order it’s accompanied by vocals that appear to have been played back on a wonky deck meandering between 33 and 45rpm. The singing throughout the album is wonderfully off-key, adding to the cutey pie charm, with both Henrik and Audrey swapping responsibility to sound brattish and childlike. Topping off poor tunes this could alienate some but there are eleven extremely worthy tracks here.
Single B-side Sister in Love is chirpy catchy powerpop, Isabelle and Leonard blissfully simple Pavement style college rock whilst My Fren sounds like Lester Square from the Monochrome Set jamming with Kim Deal. Although there are elements of ramshackled C86 guitar pop in the mix most of the influences originate in the States with the lo-fi slacker sensibilities of Stephen Malkmus, clunking Pixies bass-lines and the squawking fuzzy strings and chords of Apples in Stereo all evident. Overall it’s cracking stuff and a definite Top 5 album of the year. The bonus is that now, thankfully signed, sealed and delivered to York over here, we can fall victim to the Envelopes subversive charms over and over again.
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