Post by fiona on Jun 8, 2006 17:53:01 GMT -5
in The Word magazine (UK) Issue 41-July 2006 (eg not some tiny obscure indie fanzine-type publication).
The twee, intellectual "chamber pop" of He Poos Clouds irritates and fascinates...by Joe Muggs
A string quartet palys complex chords in a skittery rhythm. A pure, clear male voice comes in singing "she drives a little white car to the seminar/on modern romance". Twenty seconds in the CD I have safely concluded that this is not the 50 Cent album. Bizarrely, it manages to simultaneously sound like Sparks minus the comical bombast, Scott Walker minus the loucheness, and Anthony & The Johnsons minus the emoting. It is quite staggeringly arch, fey, mannered and all those other adjectives that essentially mean that something is terrifically clever, but does not rock. By the time that opening track - Arctic Circle - ends with the repeated line, "Your rock and roll has gone away," the only sane response is "No shit, Sherlock!"
The whole album continues in this vein, with hugely clever and spiky modern classical arrangements, lyrics that speak of bourgeois detachment and coldness, and a voice somewhere between Noel Coward and a chorister. It is at first deeply irritating and emotionally unengaging, yet the more I listen to it - I can't actually stop listening to it - the more a grudging admiration grows at its utter rejection of all things cool and funky. It has much better melodies than the new Scott Walker album too. I honestly don't know whether to recommend this - try The Rachels, Clogs or Silver Mount Zio for much lovelier clever string-led alternative pop - but if you like the idea of something infuriatingly enjoyable then give it a go. Don't say I didn't warn you though.
A string quartet palys complex chords in a skittery rhythm. A pure, clear male voice comes in singing "she drives a little white car to the seminar/on modern romance". Twenty seconds in the CD I have safely concluded that this is not the 50 Cent album. Bizarrely, it manages to simultaneously sound like Sparks minus the comical bombast, Scott Walker minus the loucheness, and Anthony & The Johnsons minus the emoting. It is quite staggeringly arch, fey, mannered and all those other adjectives that essentially mean that something is terrifically clever, but does not rock. By the time that opening track - Arctic Circle - ends with the repeated line, "Your rock and roll has gone away," the only sane response is "No shit, Sherlock!"
The whole album continues in this vein, with hugely clever and spiky modern classical arrangements, lyrics that speak of bourgeois detachment and coldness, and a voice somewhere between Noel Coward and a chorister. It is at first deeply irritating and emotionally unengaging, yet the more I listen to it - I can't actually stop listening to it - the more a grudging admiration grows at its utter rejection of all things cool and funky. It has much better melodies than the new Scott Walker album too. I honestly don't know whether to recommend this - try The Rachels, Clogs or Silver Mount Zio for much lovelier clever string-led alternative pop - but if you like the idea of something infuriatingly enjoyable then give it a go. Don't say I didn't warn you though.
