Figurines
s/t
Morningside Records/The Control Group
As with "When the deer wore blue", the dreamy echoes of '60s pop continue on through Figurines' self-titled release, coloring the album in nostalgic, sun-bleached tones and textures and casting strange shadows across their music. As fans of the band have come to expect, the swells of the compositions, both with respect to instrumentation and emotion, are layered and intricate, but not inaccessible or pretentious. The bright, clean production is subtly subverted by pop songs that are not reliant on guitar or vocal hooks, and tracks that evoke a summery feel often turn from the sun to explore the shade created by so much light -- "Have you always been someone that you've never been?" This perspective does not feel staged, as if the songs were deliberately crafted to include funhouse mirrors distorting the images reflecting back out of the music -- there is a natural, effortless flow to the compositions, even when a track turns corners that, at first, take the listener by surprise. On "We got away", what opens as a "Pet sounds"-inspired track evolves into something else: a love song that feels distanced from its central premise, and painfully aware of this detachment, as the subtle, clever refrain "I love her like a lover should love her" suggests. There is something this band brings to the table that so many other acts just cannot, an originality that is hard to pin down, but is nonetheless on full display on "Figurines".
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
