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Chinese Burn / Stagecoach
ART/GOES/POP
Energetic indie pop with a wide eyed enthusiasm for screaming melody and killer hooks, Popup are a band that manage to bridge the gaps between Ash, The Vaselines and The Fire Engines. Their latest single is another tantalising glimpse at a band on the verge of greatness, CHINESE BURN/STAGECOACH, two very good reasons to start getting very excited about this Glasgow four piece.
CHINESE BURN is a snappy tune that punches you in the face with abrupt pop charm, bruising guitar riffs and energised vocals; a breakneck slice of raucous indie rock that calls to mind both Sonic Youth and Arab Strap. The much more subdued STAGECOACH shows a very different side to the band, Damien Gilhooly and Adrienne Giudici dueting tenderly over acoustic guitars in classic campfire folk tradition; sublime sounding stuff.
Marking significant steps towards becoming a band to adore, CHINESE BURN/STAGECOACH showcases Popup as a band edging dangerously close to cracked pop genius.
BIOGRAPHY
It has been spoken about, on many occasion, whether it be by fans, critics, or record shop bodies, that the last single from Popup, namely LUCY, WHAT YOU TRYING TO SAY, was 'hook-drenched' and 'a triumph in the name of pop'. The hooks came in thick and fast, a truth no-one could deny, it was definitely a triumph, a move in the right musical direction for all to follow, but only of sorts, as what you hold in your hands right now, without a shadow of a doubt proves that a band capable of plucking one great tune out of the hat, can go one better and kick their own ass...
Ladies and gentlemen, popup have done it again. And this time they're bringing the crunch... CHINESE BURN, the culprit in question, is a no bullshit assault on your fun gland with a guitar riff that screams "I'm having a good time and I want to share it with you". It doesn't creep up on you, slowly building just to kick in when you expect it to...oh no! It smacks you when you LEAST expect it but with one of those punches that you'll take, because they're that good, they're that worth it.
Popup's second release on art/goes/pop is believable; a track that captures your attention but yet allows you to enjoy it, knowing full well that what you have just witnessed aurally wasn't produced to help the big wigs make a coin or two, a track that actually makes you want to strut down the street, peer free. This band have forged a track so engrossing that it holds with it a sense of honesty now clearly long gone in indie-pop music today, lost to the neck scarves and champagne cocktails of a Russell Brand meets Kate Moss culture.
Vocally, lead singer Damian Gilhooly has an assured tone to his voice but one which hides urgency inside it, begging to come out, a sort of confident quiver if you'll have it. Pair this with a marching bass line, crunching guitars and crashing drums from the rest of the band and you're instantly taken on a fast and energetic ride through fuzzed up hooks and lines that would have any of today's wannabes quaking in their boots thinking "this is TOO catchy!"
We all have the long walks home from the pub at night when you need to hear something to keep you going, the times when you really need that boost of energy, the moment you find that extra fiver deep in your pocket you forgot about, or just those plain and simple times when you want to enjoy life, well simply put, you just may have found the soundtrack to your life.
Trust us this is vinyl gold dust, that chunky nugget we all look for in the musical rivers that flood our airwaves today and the best thing to come out of Scotland since "The Delgados' and 'Groundskeeper Willie", innovative and fun AT THE SAME TIME.
What popup have accomplished here however, shouldn't just be seen as an improvement on an earlier release, it should be viewed as an accomplishment, one that shows Glasgow's finest have the knack for a fine tune, and one that provides us with the feeling things can only get better.
LINE UP
Damian Gilhooly
Michael Cross
Adrienne Giudici
Nicholas Giudici
DISCOGRAPHY
CHINESE BURN/STAGECOACH (art/goes/pop>2007)
Chinese Burn
Stagecoach
LINKS
Popup>www.myspace.com/popuptheband
FURTHER LISTENING
The Vaselines
Arab Strap
Sonic Youth
Review date: February 2007 |
