Wednesday, August 13, 2008

pacific! - Reveries


I'm not down with the whole Guilty Pleasures thing. Why should you feel guilty about liking music you love? Is there a need to hide stuff in case you're exposed as not cool enough? I like The Final Countdown by Europe and Careless Whisper by George Michael (there - said it!) and I can't see what there is to be embarrassed about there.

I mention this, because the new album by Swedish duo pacific! mines a rich seem of what might be called guilty pleasures. It's a proper Balearic record, but not in the sense of TOP IBIZA CHILL OUT CLASSIX compilations, but in the old-fashioned sense of anything goes as long as it's good and makes sense, an attitude that saw the likes of Chris Rea's On the Beach and other soft rock classics being blared from Ibizan terraces whilst addled clubbers went wild with joy. Danny Hogberg and Bjorn Synneby have amassed a lifetime's musical loves and influences on Reveries, and they're not ashamed of any of them, so they're as happy displaying affection for cheesy 80s synth pop as they are for more classic, 'credible' reference points. So we have the ghosts of terminally unfashionable groups like A-ha and ELO, sitting happily alongside The Beach Boys and other summery West Coast American idols. The song Disappear manges even to recall both Ticket to Ride and Maggie May within the space of a few seconds. Elsewhere, there are flavours of more contemporary lounge acts, like Air and Lemon Jelly.

So guilty pleasure it certainly ain't. It's a near-perfect summer album, full of shimmery electropop to cheer the spirits even in the dampest of London Augusts. I doubt that many readers of this blog have the opportunity to cruise down a palm-lined freeway in an open-topped car, but if you do, you know what to stick on the hi-fi.

mp3: pacific! - Disappear
mp3: pacific! - Silent Running
mp3: pacific! - Sunset Blvd (Popular Computer Remix)

The album Reveries is out in the UK next week on the excellent Half Machine Records. You can currently buy the import vinyl at Rough Trade. It's preceded this week by a single - a 12" release of Sunset Blvd, with a few remixes (buy from Rough Trade too). None of these can touch the glory of the original, but the Popular Computer one does a decent job of keeping the best bits without messing it up too much.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this album... think I listened to it for a week straight this spring.

Know what you mean about guilty pleasure music, though, it's very soft rock... in a dance kind of way.

Is is just me or does the intro to "Hold Me" sound like they're about to launch into "More Than a Feeling"?

The Daily Growl said...

I got a bit confused by your reference to Hold Me, because I don't have a song with that name on my copy of Reveries. Then I check and it turns out that the UK release has a totally different tracklistng...

But with regard to the Boston comparison - you're right!

Corey said...

can u re up the popular computer remix?

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Online Pharmacy no prescription said...

That is a cool picture, love the effect of the eyes in the palm of their hands.

tiendas de muebles said...

It can't work in reality, that is exactly what I suppose.

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