Building consensus: The Embassy - Tacking
The Embassy's new album "Tacking" is the most hyped indie album of Q4 this year, but for the life of me, I just can't figure out why. All I hear are cookie-cutter house beats, barely in-key vocals and a total void of anything resembling a hook. It's not that it's outright bad or anything, it's just that it's so painfully mediocre that I'm shocked people are getting excited about it. I thought there had to be something to the 5-star and 10/10 reviews, right? I'm sorry, but I just don't hear it.
What's behind the hype then? Obviously, articles such as this are just more fuel for the fire, but I really want to know what makes believe that "Tacking" is so special. Or is the hype completely unfounded? I asked a number of my reviewers to give me their individual thoughts on the record and here's what they said:
Last week I went away on holiday, and during my stay I listened to The Embassy's new album continuously. My expectations for this album absolutely rocketed in the last few months, not only because I love their earlier releases, but the album has also got an insane amount of hype from the Swedish press. I wish I could go against the tide here and say that "Tacking" is highly overrated and everyone who says it's the best album they've heard in a ages should be brought down on their knees and lashed, but how can I do something like that when "Tacking" makes me dance on the spot whenever I listen to it, be it at the bus stop or the beach. These nine songs are nothing but perfect electronic pop and I wish the album had come out before I was born so I could have spent all my life listening to it (you should give this magnificent record to any newborn babies so they don't have to be as unlucky as us). There you have it, I just joined the The Embassy hype queue and damn me if I'm not proud to stand in it!
- Simon Tagestam
As I drove home from work the other morning, I popped in this CD to get a feel for what this Gothenburg duo had to offer. My graveyard shift-addled mind was impressed by the opener "Some indulgence" and had high hopes for the rest of the album. I listened to the rest of the album in my CD player at home and ended up with mixed results. There are some bright spots on the album, such as the opening track, "Lurking (with a distance)", "Tell me" and the closer "Was that all it was". In the end, I found myself kind of bored with the album. Fredrik Lindson provides vocals and guitar work that is gentle for the listener; never too heavy, but just enough to get lured in while Torbjörn Håkansson's electronic drum programming and bass lines provide a rhythm you could dance or drive home from work to. A good piece of pop-electro-indie but it's missing that proverbial "certain something" that would make me listen to it again.
- Navy Keophan
In all this fascination with post-punk in recent years, nobody really took the more successful bands of the era as influence. Nobody really wanted to emulate New Order, Simple Minds or Depeche Mode. The Embassy does just that, with a singer that sounds eerily similar to New Order's Bernard Summer they take the whole synth-pop approach but with very limited appeal. The whole thing is well put together but it just doesn't have the songs to go over the mediocre tag.
- Simon Thibaudeau
It sounds like what would happen if Pet Shop Boys and Sarah Records had a child, or in this case - two children. Although you could read in a million and one influences into this, this record sounds NOW. Like all pop should, but almost never does. Service has an impressive track record, but this is their best release by far. Tacking oozes of greatness, from "Some indulgence" to "Was that all it was" to the artwork. Swedish pop has never been better than this. I'm just glad I'm around for the party.
- Johannna Smith