Guillemots - 'Get Over It'
The best bits of Guillemots records always occur when the amazingly-named Fyfe Dangerfield opens up his flip-top head and howls an ecstatic gibber at the rising moon, while his band shout their favourite pizza toppings at each other (or something like that, anyway) in a exciteable fashion. They do it a surprising amount, and it never fails to raise a hair or two on the nape of the collective ChartBlog neck.
In this song, they've even managed to stagger what I've now decided to call The Wheezy Bellow Moment, so that it gains added power as the song goes on. So, in the verses, when the band are all yelling "GET OVER IT!" at Fyfe, in a quite theatrical and possibly not massively convincing way, you start to wonder if perhaps they've forgotten to bring The Power and The Magic with them.
It's an understandable fear, seeing as the band have replaced their ramshackle clockwork woodwork with a rumbling bass beast and whooshy theramins - a bit like Goldfrapp used to, only less robotic and deliberately sexy. Some reviewers are claiming that this means the band have 'gone R&B' or somesuch nonsense. And for a while there, you can sort of see what they mean, apart from the fact that this doesn't sound remotely like any R&B record which has ever been made ever.
I mean I haven't heard every R&B record which has ever been made, but if there is one which sounds like Adam and the Ants playing the Dr Who theme underneath a foppish English werewolf, it would hardly count as an R&B record in the first place, right? So it's a foolish comparison to make.
Anyway, all doubts as to what the hell the band's new musical direction are about evaporate when the chorus arrives and you realise it's OK, they didn't forget. Here's The Power, and over there is The Magic. It's just like 'Made Up Love Song #43' all over again, only a bit crosser, a bit less overwhelmed by bliss, and a bit dirtier. Hardly the stuff of dramatic reinvention, and all the better for it.
I think the words I'm looking for to sum this band up are 'delightfully' and 'crackers'. But if you've got ones you'd like to share with the group, hey, be my guest...
Download: Out now
CD Released: March 10th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
I love this! Fyfe Dangerfield has such a good voice!
Hi Fraser,
No need to post this one, but congrats on your amazing output. 500 consistently inspired reviews, covering the dizzying range of modern pop, and your appreciation or rejection of songs still baffles and intrigues this reader.
Plus, it's great to have an eloquent ally in appreciation of phenomena like Rihanna and Britney.
Thanks!
Frans
[Don't post it? Are you kidding? I'm gonna make this into a POSTER! - Fraser]
Can't get this song out of my head, completely infectious and made me look at a band I had previously ignored. WHAT A MISTAKE TO MAKE. Last album is a good one and I am looking forward to Red.
Trying to get tickets for the live shows!