Soundpool brought back shoegaze in a wondrous way with their previous two albums. And whilst they keep their unique sound about them – for their third venture they have done a Goldfrapp and decided to explore something akin to the disco sound of the 70’s.
But where Goldfrapp sounded like Goldfrapp gone disco in the cheesiest sense, Soundpool have wisely gone disco with dignity intact. So it wouldn’t be fair to describe their work as retro on this album as it keeps a modern feel about it.
The keyboard programming is as desolate as ever, whilst James Renard’s Beats and John Ceparano’s Bass and guitar build a strong rythym for Kim Field’s voice to work her magic around.
Knowing that this album didn’t start off as the end result dictated – it is interesting to see how the band have layered their music and redirected focus. With a loose base in the groundwork it is also easy to see that had they been inspired another way musically at the time that the work could have grown and branched out in a very different direction altogether.
That isn’t to say that they have merely layered in dance beats like a lazy remixed version of a song – but they have taken the music composition and vocal work in that direction too.
For your classic disco sound ‘Makes no Sense’ has a lot of playful “Doo doo doo” about it whereas ‘Sparkle In the Dark’ combines probably the most effective blend of Soundpool’s previous sound to date as well as the new dance themes. ‘I’m So Tired’ is a prime example of a great song that is done very simply: An album highlight that expresses a lot of the bands charm, as well as being very atmospheric.
In the end we are left with an album that is a brave choice for the band to have taken – and for all their efforts it hasn’t tarnished anything they have built thus far. I don’t know if i’d want to hear them going down the same path again – but it has given me a taste for what other genres they could put their stamp on. Growth, expansion and ideas are what bands like this toy around with so well. So looking to their future is already something to be interested in.
