“Hannah” is the first of four consecutive pop gems that run the gambit all the way from goofball twee back towards “First Floor’s” dreampop. Next, we’re on to the other half of Freelance Whales. These guys have chemistry in no short supply, and it shows on the ethereal opener. But together they make the world’s greatest condiment. Alone, each chemical is deadly, deadly poison. Consider the combination of sodium and chloride. “Generator ^ First Floor” positively reverberates with the “native language” of…whales, I’m guessing? All I know is I’ve never wanted to sing along so badly with what should, by all rights, be a really irritating noise. So it might be easy, but it’s certainly not simple. Maybe easy is a poor choice of words, because that’s certainly part of the definition of Freelance Whales. And somewhere along the way, we’ll hopefully pinpoint that signature sound but I’m warning you, it won’t be easy. Luckily we have all album to figure it out. It’s really hard to say whether this group is at their best when chanting along in hazy harmony as in the opener or carving out sharp melodies as in the track(s) immediately following. Fortunately for our heroes, there’s no lack of innovative instrumental interplay on what could have been a so two thousand and late fuzzy keyboard pop trend rehash. Somehow, there needs to be a signature, something that establishes a presence. There’s a little Postal Service or Grandaddy-esque digitized romanticism, some breathy vocals spiked with banjo that’d bring tears to Sufjan’s eyes and a bit of fun kind of like…well, “fun.” The bad news is there’s always a little danger of anonymity when unabashedly drawing on influences, as Headlights could tell you. For me, it’s essentially a pastiche of my favorite indie pop techniques. at Johnny Brenda’s tickets to the 21+ show are SOLD OUT.The good news is this album should win you over pretty quickly if you’re generally a fan of pleasant music. Freelance Whales performs with Miniature Tigers at 9 p.m. And when whatever new thing that will eventually replace Twitter finally comes along, they might want to think about using Freelance Whales’ “Generator ^ Second Floor” in their commercial. (A commercial that stars a faceless protagonist, no less.) But we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
(Which, in these times of adorably-quaint-but-depressingly-disposable indie rock, wouldn’t be much of a surprise.) Honestly, it’s hard to argue in favor of the staying power of a band whose work is featured in a commercial for a social networking service that is the very face of substancelessness in the digital age.
Then there’s Freelance Whales, whose “Generator ^ First Floor” (off the band’s debut album, Weathervanes) was featured in a Twitter commercial earlier this year.Īt first, that would seem to suggest that the Queens-based quintet is best taken in extremely small doses, or that its time in the spotlight will last about as long as that tweet you posted earlier this morning regarding the long line at the coffee shop. What can you tell about an indie-darling-of-the-moment based solely on the company that signs it for use in a television commercial? Apple has made a science out of cherry-picking carefully groomed indie acts that are every bit as aesthetically pleasing as the company’s latest generation of iPods Hyundai, meanwhile, chose Pomplamoose-quite possibly the most offensively forgettable and personality-devoid band of 2010-to hawk its forgettable and personality-devoid WhatsItCalled line of sedans.
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