album #89

still night, still light (au revoir simone)

This is a thoroughly mild, cool album. More than most of what I've listened to this year, this makes me think of dancing at a house party where I feel a little out of place, a little out-cooled. Sexy, indie Brooklyn hipsterdom, that's what this record sounds like. One of the songs is even about breaking up with a guy and (very sincerely, empathetically) asking him to move on… the sort of song that, of course, an impossibly cool, attractive girl (such as the girls of ARS) would write. I don't mean to sound defensive or cliquish… it's just what the music makes me think of.

This is a nice record, they have a pretty sound… the soft vocals, the twinkling synths. But I never really loved it. In fact, this record is probably one of the most mild I've heard all year- I like everything, I dislike pretty much nothing, I strongly like pretty much nothing. It flies hard and narrow into the 'okay' zone. "Another Likely Story" is nice, and I like "Anywhere You Looked"- this sounds like the song I'd dance to if I saw these guys in person, didn't love it, but tried to convince myself I did, and was thus dancing/jamming when they played this. It kinda reminds me of being a sophomore and knowing only that I wanted to be cooler, without being sure what would get me there.

The one Au Revoir Simone track I really loved was "Through the Backyards of our Neighbors"- just a beautiful track. But that's not on this record. I'll have to find the album with that song and see if I like it better than this one.