Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Bombay Bicycle Club – Ivy and Gold

INDIE SPOTLIGHT!!!…



[Video][Website]
[4.50]

John Seroff: “Ivy and Gold” is a jaunty gallop of earnest folk buoyed up by a light touch and a music box melody. There are thin ribbons of spring sunshine, “Misty Mountaintop” and something gently heartfelt, but they run through a thick slurry of twee, Wes Anderson-esque nostalgia and too precious vocals. Pretty, but not one I’m likely to hang on to for long.
[6]

Michaelangelo Matos: Slightly jazzy folk played by indie Brits from Crouch End. Livelier than that sounds, not that it makes it all that much more interesting.
[5]

Anthony Easton: The ethnic history and politics of Crouch End seem really important to understand this track, but I am not from London, so I can safely dismiss this as anglo Vampire Weekend, except Vampire Weekend seem to be having fun, and are less obligatory.
[4]

Martin Skidmore: Folky acoustic playing, with banjos and all, which is okay with me, but the singer shows no sign of doing anything except trying to hit the notes. It sounds sort of simpleminded, as well as very tedious. I sort of like the banjo refrain, so some points for that, but it’s pretty dismal otherwise.
[5]

Mark Sinker: Is Suren de Saram related to the avant-garde cellist Rohan de Saram? I find it a bit disheartening that the BBClub ‘s wikipedia page is longer than Rohan’s.
[4]

Chuck Eddy: Might have actually liked this as a Yellow Magic Orchestra/Kyu Sakomoto-type instrumental (well, okay, I guess “Sukiyaki” technically had vocals, but they were in Japanese, so same difference to Americans). And when the feeble singer here mewls along with the undeniably pretty Eastern-sounding melody parts, it’s passable. But then he doesn’t.
[4]

Jonathan Bogart: I’ve always hated aggression and metal and blood and violence and bullies, but damned if this doesn’t make me want to kick sand in these kids’ faces. Say something that means something! Or if that’s too hard, be interesting! Anything but this twinkly gauzy lifestyle wallpaper bullshit!
[2]

Katherine St Asaph: It’s definitely pleasant to listen to in a pastoral, scratched-out-of-the-earth way. The melody repeats itself a few times too often, though, and eventually starts reminding me of this guy at a show I was at who told me I needed to quit being so uptight and “Quaker out”. This song wants me to Quaker out.
[6]

2 Responses to “Bombay Bicycle Club – Ivy and Gold”

  1. So am I really the only person here who hears this as flaunting a really pronounced (if quasi-) Far Eastern melody? Weird. No way am I just imagining that — One guy in the photo even has on a Mao T-shirt! (Song still sucks, though. Relistening, I’m pretty sure I overrated it.)

  2. “a really pronounced (if quasi-) Far Eastern melody”

    that’s what I was referring to obliquely with my ‘Misty Mountaintop’ reference; it may be a bit more ‘Norwegian Wood’