The Singles Jukebox

These guys, well, they’re not getting lucky.

[Video][Website]
[5.20]

Alfred Soto: Keep your Chic piano, boys. Imagine a Maroon 5 in which every member looked like James Valentine.
[3]

Iain Mew: A few years ago I saw indie rock group Daughter play a cover of “Get Lucky” that turned it gloomy and sinister. Their swapping out “she/I” for “I/he” was smart, but mostly it worked because musically it was so heavy-handed to go right through obvious and back out again. “Tieduprightnow” isn’t actually a cover, but it’s pretty much the same thing done instead with the lightest touch. Its fog of sadness never quite settles but slowly spreads out over everything until the effect is unnerving.
[7]

Vikram Joseph: A sweetly wistful late-summer earworm, with the distinct jacaranda-and-sunscreen scent of Australian airwaves. That said, the most obvious reference points are very much Northern Hemisphere — Daft Punk buzzed out on Diazepam, and the jerky coastal pop of Metronomy’s singles.
[7]

Ramzi Awn: You’ve gotta give it to Parcels: their vocals are on point. “Tieduprightnow” is sweet, with just enough playfulness to make it worth a listen. But it has a cloying undertaste, and the chorus sounds like it actually was a Bee Gees single. 
[4]

Julian Axelrod: One of my favorite under-appreciated recent rom coms is What If, the relentlessly charming Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan vehicle. The film follows a sadsack medical student who falls for a beautiful woman, only to discover *record scratch* she’s got a BOYFRIEND??? It’s an objectively obnoxious premise that’s been done to death, and yet the execution is so slick and charming it bulldozes through the ickiness of the sentiment. That’s the closest parallel I can draw to “Tieduprightnow,” which resuscitates a pop trope used by Rick Springfield to American Hi-Fi through sleek disco trappings and savvy execution. I like how the object of the singer’s affection isn’t necessarily in a relationship. (Maybe they’re just working on themselves right now!) When they play it this cool, it’s hard not to be won over.
[7]

Jonathan Bradley: Parcels play a fussy kind of disco, which serves their commitment to verismilitude: they construct a dance music of primped expense rather than sweat and hips. The boogie is in their polyester cuffs and not the groove. That up-market style can be fantastic, but it does place all creative emphasis on the melody, and “Tieduprightnow” does not have a tune that won’t quit your head. Pastiche is no sin though.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Ambitions like the Bee Gees, vocals like the C Minus Gees. When will the music industry remember (or, cynically, realize) that singing matters?
[3]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Chintzy disco that believes its featherweight vocals are enough to sustain four minutes of tedium. Less can be more, but this is bloodless.
[2]

Hannah Jocelyn: As far as I can tell, we have an unrequited love song with no serious indication that he can Treat You Better; even as “what I need is…” implies entitlement, he seems to respect this would-be significant other enough to not convince her to Break Up With Him. At least I hope so; I fret about the lyrics so because musically, this is flawless. There’s nothing wrong with overdubs and piecing together a production, but the group plays off of each other in a way that immediately indicates a live take. They’re not showing off, they’re supporting each other, so even if the lyrics can lean toward self-pity, the performances are confident enough to overcome that. Probably.
[7]

Edward Okulicz: Here’s a disco song that doesn’t move even one step, possibly because it’s too shy to do so (the bass is mixed too low for my taste) but more likely because it’s actually a yacht rock song in drag. The falsetto nicely portrays the narrator’s ineffectual nature, but it’s not exactly a nice sound in and of itself. More people should listen to Spirits Having Flown, but few people should try to copy it. These guys have some good instincts but maybe aren’t making the best choices.
[6]