WILL DREW’S EYES REMAIN INSIDE HIS SOCKETS? TUNE IN TO FIND OUT!

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[7.14]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Alexis! Derek! They are Sleigh Bells! [FIREWORKS GO OFF.] And Sleigh Bells, three albums in, are one of our best pop groups when they are blaring and out for blood, but they’re even better when they go (relatively) quiet and bare the soul under their 10000kw apple pie iconography, like on “End of the Line” or “Rill Rill.” “Bitter Rivals” barely hints at their morose side, beginning with the high-pitched exclamation of “hi!” and a sword’s unsheathing. It ends on a moment of guitar/keyboard drama so synthetic and bursting with colour that you can probably envision the anime it’s destined to soundtrack. It’s cartoonish without being completely disassociated from reality and stoopid rather than plain ol’ stupid. Let Sleigh Bells have their fun first; they can go deeper into the bitter side of “Bitter Rivals” in due time.
[7]

Alfred Soto: Dropping the two-humans-and-a-drum-machine-against-the-world schtick for a racket shaped around their insistence on Telling a Narrative, the Bells impressed me on first listen. But the narrative isn’t interesting, the synth bits chintzy. Give me the talented minor band that acted like Zeppelin at Pitchfork Music Festival in 2012.
[5]

Josh Langhoff: When your once new sound threatens to stagnate into schtick, where do you go? The blues! Worked for Arcade Fire in “Keep the Car Running,” Tracy Chapman in “Give Me One Reason,” Prince in “Delirious,” Prince in “Kiss,” Prince in “U Got the Look” (OK, he’s a bad example), and it works here for the Bells. They gussy up the blues template with their sonic obsessions. The ominous introduction — Derek’s guitar sharpens knives, Alexis coo-scats with a dog — bursts into ear-splitting dynamic contrasts, catchphrase after aggressive catchphrase, a sound both slapdash and calibrated to inflict as much Sleigh Bells-ness as possible across cheap speakers and festival grounds. It’s still everything you love or hate about them, and I still approve, but my own failure of imagination makes me wary: what do they do next, a rhythm change?
[7]

Brad Shoup: It’s as if the final rap from “Cowboy” were its own song. You can’t be wondering if that’s a good thing, can you? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times/I had to kill the new sheriff in town” is my fav couplet this year, and it’s just the first in a long of gloriously goofy non sequiturs. It sounds more like an inside joke than a single, but their soccer-mob stomp remains as dry and frantic as ever. Now to dream of Kid initiating a Springsteen/Arcade Fire-style partnership.
[9]

Anthony Easton: Do you know what they should remake? Johnny Guitar. Do you know what should be on the soundtrack of the final gun scene — this!
[9]

David Turner: This isn’t too far from “A/B Machines”: garish noise with a hint of pop. Too bad they haven’t crossed over into Top 40, because this would sound a lot more interesting on the radio than isolated on my laptop headphones.
[5]

Katherine St Asaph: “Bitter Rivals” is: 1) Bubblebutt rock. (Credit where credit’s due.) 2) The soundtrack to a Play-Doh spaghetti western. 3) The theme song for 2014’s post-Spring Breakers remake of Sugar and Spice, directed by a 14-year-old girl who aims a power washer full of glitter at the camera lenses during the heist scenes. 4) The song Katy Perry’s “Roar” shoulda been. It even starts with the part of “Eye of the Tiger” Katy didn’t rip off! (The riff.) (She ripped off another riff.) 5) Interrupted halfway by Alexis Krauss practicing a hook over snaps and claps, like if you yanked off her headphones or yanked some on. 6) Girl power deconstructed into girl-on-girl violence, then put back together again: “You are my bitter rival, but I need you for survival.” 7) A subtweet, in that line, directed at nobody in particular. 8) A subtweet directed at EVERYBODY IN PARTICULAR. 9) You want an even number? A number that matches the score? *draws sword*
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