Shocking Pinks - Shocking Pinks Album Review
Shocking Pinks
Album Review
Shocking Pinks is the name of New Zealand musician Nick Harte's new musical project. It's unsurprising if the name means nothing to you, as his previous works have only been released in New Zealand, and it gives me no small amount of pleasure to be able to offer one of the first reviews for the rest of the world. My one line appraisal after a single listen was 'lo-fi' crossed with 'dance', which is a tag I'm considerably less happy with now, but will do to give you a loose idea of what to expect. Harte whispers the vocals in a style reminiscent of folk crossed with spoken word, while a slightly muffled crashing repetitious dance drum beats play in the background over the top of an acoustic guitar. It's eclectic and it's interesting - but it's also wilfully inaccessible at times: easy listening enough to forget it's there, with few memorable hooks for this reviewer to desperately cling onto.
It's always helpful for a lazy reviewer such as yours truly to be able to draw comparisons to other artists, but Nick's decided to be plain difficult by sounding unique to my ears. There's a bit of Pavement in there, I think, maybe a slight dash of Magnetic Fields in terms of the tone - but these are approximations and it's a testament to the innovation of the record that I'm this stumped and increasingly digging into my word count in desperately trying to name check other bands.
But unfortunately, there's a downside to this. If I'm struggling to name-check successful artists that sound like this, then logically it means that no one has achieved success with this style of music. It's hard to imagine these songs ever being on Radio 1 - sandwiched between Gwen Stefani, Nickleback or some other M.O.R fluff - but that's how it should be. It's not background music, and its lack of memorable hooks and sing-along choruses eventually amount to the fact that it's a record that requires close attention - and that's the kind of listener it rewards.
Given time, the tunes do find a way of burrowing into your subconscious. Indeed, I had the pleasant jangly intro to forthcoming single This Aching Deal in my head for the entirety of a long car journey which shows there's something catchy about it even if it isn't the track itself. But while these pretty moments do have a tendency to blend into a pleasant album of loveliness, there's a few jarring moments that just do not fit with the music. Blonde Haired Girl for example is, without (ever, ever) wanting to sound like my father, "just noise". It's dreadful and betrays the calm feel of the rest of the album. This confused vibe is excusable when you realise that the album is actually a reworking and combination of Nick Harte's two solo albums (released only in New Zealand), but at the same time there's a fine line between keeping a listener intrigued and preventing them from pressing the 'skip track' button.
In short, a few frustrations aside, the music is ideally suited for listening to if you find yourself feeling slightly melancholy at 3am in the morning. Just make sure you use headphones, or your neighbours may be around to try and confiscate your drum kit.
