Astrid "Play Dead"

Vai a sapere perchè questo secondo disco degli Astrid è uno di quelli che trovo sempre quando mi capita di andare a fare un giro nei negozi d'usato.
Ovunque sono...salta fuori una copia di sto album.
Doveva essere il disco della riconferma del gruppo dopo l'otimo esordio. E in un certo senso è un disco che conferma quanto di buono c'era, ma non riesce a fare il botto come ci si aspettava. Manca il colpo vincente e così i pezzi passano, il pop e la fragranza ci sono, ma non si arriva mai a battere veramente le mani in ginocchio.
Disco comunque più che passabile! (
Play Dead is Astrid's second album and--rather like their first--casts them as toddler-like pretenders to Teenage Fanclub's golden throne. Indicatively, several abundantly hummable songs--the albums's title track and the single "Tick Tock" for example--champion traditional pop values to excellent effect. But, oh, for a little more individuality.
The nagging suspicion that Astrid are playing their cards too far away from their chest becomes apparent on "It Never Happened", which recalls Dodgy circa 1993, and "Wrong For You" which is Shack's "Cornish Town" with extra clotted-cream and an all too similar Simon and Garfunkel vocal coda.
The albums' standout track, the playful "Horror Movies", couldn't be any more like the Fountains of Wayne if it was written and performed by the Fountains of Wayne. Hang on, that's a real compliment. (Kevin Maidment - http://www.amazon.co.uk)
A peculiar concept, this 'perfect pop' lark. Rather than describing, say, the product of a national pop talent contest, it's a term more frequently slung at greying indie-plodders that have actually learnt to play their instruments, as opposed to just bashing away with atonal glee. With the chasm between pop and indie more gaping than ever, though, it's a harsh time to be caught with loyalties split.
Bless Scottish four-piece Astrid - they've got little time for the yawnsome navel-gazing of their peers. "Can't stand that lo-fi scene", grins frontman William Campbell over the buoyant brass parp of 'Crying Boy' - despite its maudlin name, a song with all the sunny charm of Oasis' 'Round Are Way' building sandcastles with The Boo Radleys' 'Wake Up Boo'.
And bless 'em, you'll want to squeeze their ruddy little cheeks when they're pledging their love to a, uh, well-endowed ex-girlfriend on 'Fat Girl'. But the odd dark cloud of amateurism muddies Astrid's pure pop horizon; 'Horror Movie' can't decide if it's trying to get onto the next Daphne & Celeste album, or if it's just a wee bit wet. Did we mention Astrid are chums with Belle & Sebastian?
The pop urge is there, but it's not quite enough; 'Play Dead' is in mortal danger of falling into indie's open grave. (Louis Pattison - http://www.nme.com/)
- It Never Happened
- Tick Tock
- Wrong for You
- Crying Boy
- Alas
- Play Dead
- Fat Girl
- Just One Name
- Hard To Be A Person
- Paper
- Modes Of Transport
- What You're Thinking
- Taken For Granted
- Horror Movies
ASTRID