dissabte, 27 d’abril del 2013

ANNA BRADLEY. The Last Great Day Before the Body Was Found




NVC indie rockers Anna Bradley have embraced the EP as their favorite format. Their latest is called The Last Great Day Before the Body Was Found, a quircky lo-fi take on the likes of Television and Husker Dü.
They've obviously worked hard on their harmony vocals and it has paid off handsomely, deepening the sound. Mashing garage with prog guitar it will find its way to the music geeks who can appreciate the adventure and loosely applied textures in their songs.(Entertainment Magazine)

This is the second release I’ve covered to come out of Oliver Ignatius’ Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen studio—a place that I’m now willing to say consistently releases absolutely gorgeous sounding albums. And The Last Great Day Before The Body Was Found is more that just gorgeous – it is almost overwhelmingly lush, and drops a substantial payload in terms of guitar riffs and songwriting. The Last Great Day Before The Body Was Found is one of the most surprising, and symphonic-minded, pop rock releases that I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing.
These songs are production gems, with a full and chamber-y sound usually reserved for small orchestras. ‘Head For Heights’ has an almost Pere Ubu haziness to it, and contains the EPs most brazenly intricate guitar work. Though The Last Great Day Before The Body Was Foundis certainly more of a vocal and atmospheric showcase, the EP is also resplendent with involved and engaging guitar parts courtesy of Kabir Kumar and Daniel Fisher.
The brief ‘Deserter’ has a very millenial sound, and is filled with expressive guitar swoops, nestled smartly in tones reminiscent of The Police on Ghost In The Machine. There is something very early ’80s to the entirety of The Last Great Day Before The Body Was Found—reminiscent of an era when guitars were taking on the tones of the synthesizers that they were quickly being forced to compete with, and producers were starting to realize that the tone and atmosphere of what goes on between the notes was just as important and influential to an album’s sound as the instruments themselves.
EP closer ‘Safflor Rouge’ is as reverent of late ’90s pop punk as it is of more subversively weird acts like Abe Vigoda. It’s hard to believe that Anna Bradley is a four-piece, because most of The Last Great Day Before The Body Was Found sounds like the orchestral exuberance of a band like Broken Social Scene.
It’s great to hear guitar rock that isn’t concerned with sounding raw and harsh, but still puts a lot into the idea of sounding live and natural. Anna Bradley is a band that has grown from a very singular project into a dialogue amongst musical peers. The instruments play off each other with fanatic gaiety on The Last Great Day Before The Body Was Found, and the whole EP could stand under careful scrutiny from fans of intricate guitar work. With an already extensive discography for such a young group of musicians, Anna Bradley is poised to continue producing spellbinding guitar pop.
@HemlockShaw