For those who are atrocious at basic arithmetic, here is an easy calculation to remember: The Death of Pop + Seconds = Pure Brilliance. Ok, so maybe that calculation may not be all that helpful in passing an Accountancy exam; but Accountancy is a very dour and boring occupation to endeavour, instead lodge that cranial space with the wonderous sounds of The Death of Pop’s fifth album.
The Death of Pop had been since 2014 been releasing a new album every year until 2017’s Fed Up. Four years on Seconds builds on the formula perfected in Fed Up which managed to harness the glorious messiness of their 2016 release Turns with a cleaner and more clinical edge. The kitsch artwork of Fed Up with its picturesque depiction of pineapple rings, jelly mounts and cherry topped Angel Delight is continued on Seconds via the generic photo studio portrait of a suburban couple; whom with a contemporary Magritte stamp, have their faces obscured with a glob of chewing gum!
It is a pure open invitation to the fact that you can’t judge a book solely on its exquisitely designed cover. The Death of Pop have never shied away from acknowledging their influences, but unlike other artists who use their influences as a protective camouflage to conceal a paucity of original ideas, here we have a creative gateway to exploration that is as exhilarating as it is intriguing.
The opening track ‘Fade Away’ comes across as if Alpha Papa’s Pat Farrell had held up Tallulah Gosh and Kevin Shields in a recording studio and forced them to produce one of his beloved jingles! It pleads. It swoons. It dies. ‘The House That We Built’ is a searingly beautiful synchronization of heart and soul, which is almost filmic in its construction. It forms a trend that defines a lot of the music on Seconds, music formed from a treasured memory which disappears far too soon. The musical dimensions of this album could in lesser hands be peripatetic stabs at emotional reflectiveness, but The Death of Pop are too sophisticated and deep to engage with salutary posturing. 10 songs with just over half an hour of playing time, all making their impact without a scintilla of an extraneous note.
‘Ready For Us’ with it’s sumptuous bassline from Dick Dent is delightful – exploding 80s funk into a mellow meditation on love. The James Brothers (Oliver and Angus) deliver a fifth album which is mature in all the best possible ways. As if receiving a dreary school report, gold stars will always be given to those whose main goal is to not embarrass, rather than impress. But Seconds is assured in the sense it is a group working at the height of their collective powers synthesising pure emotion within the self-constrained format of the three-minute song. On the last track ‘Disappear’, you feel that with this journey now ended, you are caught in a delirious rapture, impatiently waiting for it all to begin all over again.
Seconds, there are 1,843 of them on this record to magically surrender yourself to.
https://thedeathofpop.bandcamp.com/album/seconds
— Henry Forrest, perverted by language and kuriously oranj, bought you this lovely review. To see the rest of Henry’s reviews hit the tag below.
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