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SPRING SKIER – We Were Astronomers |
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Monday, 12 September 2011 |
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 (Mucho-Bravado)
Drunken ex-stargazers form folk-pop duo
Alcohol may have killed John Bonham, but it’s given us Spring Skier. While I think I’ve lost count of the amount of artists who define their own mythology with reference to booze, we can now add local folk pop duo Spring Skier to this list. The brainchild of locals Remy Boccalatte and Kane Mazlin, names undoubtedly familiar to those who know groups such as The Hungry Kids Of Hungary and The Paper & The Plane, the duo came together during drunken New Year’s celebrations, caught red-handed screaming late ‘90s punk songs. With this in mind, it’s somewhat surprising their debut record We Were Astronomers contains songs more in the vein of Simon & Garfunkel and Ben Folds rather than Blink-182. Boccalatte and Mazlin are fond of sentiment – sometimes a bit too often – recounting various tales of love and other related emotions using a mix of acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocal harmonies. The delightful Chelsea is unabashedly similar to Simon & Garfunkel, but well demonstrates the duo’s enviable harmonies, even managing to get me humming pleasantly along. I’m not as fond of Relative Causes, its accented vocals and summery melody sounding too forced in its attempt to emulate the likes of Brian Wilson. Indeed, the group are more interesting when they throw off such preoccupations. The excellent Barcelona speaks far more confidently, using a low synth to frame a reflective yet affirming tune that truly shows the duo’s best colours. This is the song I would imagine slipping on the end of a mix tape for an awkward teenage crush. While I’ll admit that We Were Astronomers took me some time to fully come to grips with, it contains some flashes of pop brilliance amongst its largely decent material.
***½
DARRAGH MURRAY
1. Written by Matt, on 13-09-2011 10:02
A review of the review of Spring Skier would rate it a weak 2/5. Who cares how the duo came together (apart from Murray it seems)? Murray wastes half of his print space to inane trivia rather than actually unpacking the album for readers who might actually be considering listening to it and/or buying it. Moreover, why is it surprising that Spring Skier don't belt out flash in the pan Blink 182 trash? And, what is Murray suggesting when he says, "...even managing to get me humming pleasantly along"? At least Murray at the end gives the boys some credit for what they do and actually begins to review their material. But, after reading Murray's review, I still don't know whether I should listen to it or not. Not decent enough. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 September 2011 )
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