Another few months pass, another few tracks come our way courtesy of Next Biggest Thing. I wrote a cursory review of Why Why Peaches‘ ‘Holes’ back in April, and now here’s a double whammy – May brought us Francobollo’s ‘Try?’ and June offers forth Bronze Medallists’ ‘Mathematics’.
‘Try?’ is a quirky track, throwing a fuzzy, stamping drumbeat and big buzzy guitars at you alongside leisurely sung vocals. God knows what effects or compressors they’ve put on those drums (I know pretty much nothing about drums except that you hit them with sticks, or rolled up newspaper if you need to play in your room really quietly) but it’s effective. The song actually opens with a sort of tropical high-pitched steel string sound which doesn’t persist throughout the tune, but it does give it a bit of unusual character from the off. There’s a very Beck-ish feel to the songwriting, sound and vocals, actually – I mean this as a compliment despite personally having never found Beck as appealing or cool as I’m apparently supposed to. But yeah, Francobollo are an obviously British band; it comes through in those vocals pretty clearly despite the affected drawl and the occasional moments of weakness.
As for Bronze Medallists, they’re also British and proud (little surprise there, with Next Biggest Thing being London-centric), but they’re drawing their sources of inspiration from The Postal Service, or perhaps third-hand derivatives like the saccharine Owl City. ‘Mathematics’ is quite charming, actually, if you’re a bit of a nerd like me: it’s a love song articulated through the language of mathematics, which is honestly quite sweet. The song itself is, vocals aside, an entirely electronic composition, generally keeping things very simple and minimalistic but periodically throwing in a few other elements to spice things up. No, the song doesn’t punch through your ribcage and grip your heart the way that the impossibly perfect Give Up does, but there are far worse sources to crib notes from, particularly when you put your own spin on it like this.
Francobollo: MySpace | Facebook
Bronze Medallists: MySpace | Facebook