Friday, March 7, 2014

MP3 REVIEW: Shocking Pinks "Guilt Mirrors" (Stars & Letters Records) [Part 1/3]


http://starsandletters.bandcamp.com/album/guilt-mirrors

            Shocking Pinks is a one man band from New Zealand and for some reason this is a three disc set, so each disc is going to certainly get its own review because I just feel like it is that important. 

            When this starts it’s instrumental, but on the second song we get vocals.  Not to jump around on you, but there is also a stretch at the end of this first disc where there are not any vocals and the songs are instrumental.   It’s a nice little break from this just being 13 straight up songs of verse/chorus/verse and whether or not we had two more discs to go after this one, I think it’s a good strategy to just always leave them wanting more.

            The music itself is new wave, maybe post punk.  He says Flock of Seagulls in the lyrics of the second song, but I do also hear any sort of John Hughes movie soundtrack in here mixed with the Human League.   A really interesting demonstration of the various styles this album implores is on the song “SoapsuddS”, while the song “Ten Years” is remarkable in terms of song writing on the story of a failed relationship idea.
           
            While I hear bits of The Cure and then other one man projects like Ben Kweller and The Rocket Summer, this really just sort of carves out its own voice in the way that those others do as well and I’m really excited by this because it takes a lot of influences that I love and combines them to form an imprint all its own that is equally as good.  

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