The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
Finally The Big Pink have released their debut album, A Brief History of Love, through 4AD records. Recipients of the much revered NME Philip Hall Radar Award, The Big Pink have spent much of 2009 seeing their names being pedaled throughout the UK music press and now attempt to serve the hype with this debut LP.
Musically, they recall label mates Glasvegas by using the Wall of Sound technique originated by Phil Spector back in the 1970s. However, The Big Pink do employ a sampler and synth at their impressive live shows, and songs such as “At War With The Sun” and “Too Young to Love” are where the electric side of this band really does come forth. The similarity between The Big Pink and Glasvegas come to the fore almost instantly with opener, “Crystal Visions,” with it’s simple drum run complimenting long gestated guitars to an excellent crescendo.
Lyrically there isn’t that much going on, with the music doing most of the talking. Most lyrics are repeated, yet heartfelt, with lead single “Dominos” being the best example of this. The simple repeated lyric, “These girls fall like Dominos,” initially seems childlike, but after several listens the guitars and electric stylings suit this song to make it possibly the album highlight.
The Big Pink seem to be aiming high, with song titles such as the previously mentioned “At War With the Sun,” “Golden Pendulum” and “Crystal Visions.” A few tracks could claim to be “epic,” but a few too many fall short of achieving this.
All in all, this is a debut album full of promise from one of Britain’s brightest new bands. I could envisage this to be a sleeper hit culminating with some large festival crowds next summer. ~ Andy
A Brief History of Love is available now on iTunes.
MP3 1: The Big Pink – Frisk
MP3 2: The Big Pink – Crystal Visions
MP3 3: The Big Pink – Dominos
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