The Singles Jukebox

Pop, to two decimal places.

Bondax – Giving It All

What’s a synonym for “disclosure,” then?


[Video][Website]
[6.00]

Alfred Soto: Another venture into nostalgia for early nineties house. The piano and percussion rule, but the swirling, treated harmonies are the key.
[7]

Patrick St. Michel: I mean, if you guys really are, this isn’t bad. But this ultimately sounds a bit too content to just float by, Disclosure without any moments that jerk the listener around. You guys got to have more than that, right?
[5]

Anthony Easton: Most of the points are for the line “paper hearts are meant to unfold,” which has enough novelty to work past the slightly dated production.
[6]

Brad Shoup: Supremely tasteful. “I keep givin’ it all/Just to love someone” could be posed for poignance. Instead, it’s a Facebook status. Examined in sequence, the elements (bgvs, ambient chirps, blips surfacing like bubbles) are fine, but they never cohere.
[5]

Scott Mildenhall: “The aural equivalent of sipping an ice-cold Pimms on the balcony of your council estate flat”, comes a quote from A Respected Publication atop Bondax’s Last.fm bio, and even though that’s probably one of the worst descriptions of anything ever (take it from an expert in the field), it’s clearly the way someone wants this to be played, so here you go: this tasteful taste of tastefulness is a sonic rendering of drinking a cup of Nescafé Azera in your lounge. While listening to lounge music.
[5]

David Lee: The aural distillation of late afternoon sunlight glinting off ornate baubles floating in a pool. For all its summeriness, though, I could see this working as a warm respite from the biting cold a month from now. Not since “Latch” have I heard a song that established itself so successfully at the bleeding edge of sunset, where icy, bright starlight and balmy, shimmering sunlight coexist.
[9]

Edward Okulicz: The web seems curiously quiet on who the vocalists are on Bondax songs, which is neat but points to a bit of a problem with “Giving It All.” The vocal is fine but it’s so, so polite and indistinct that even when beats cut in and out, it doesn’t feel like anything happens, except when our mystery lady is layered on top of herself. It’s good but I can’t stop wondering: how great might this have been if this had been a demo for, say, Róisín Murphy?
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: Did I say 2015 would be full of coffeeshop Disclosure clones? I meant 2013.
[4]