Album Review: The Long Blondes - “Couples”

It seems for their second album, Couples, The Long Blondes have decided to follow the disco-ish route they took on the song “Giddy Stratospheres” from their debut, Weekend Without Makeup, and gone from charming indie to full-blown 80s pop. The immediate effect of this change is that lead singer Kate Jackson has somehow become even more sexy.

The Long Blondes - “Couples”
Rough Trade Records

Lead-off track and rightful single “Century” is pure 80’s new-wave - all Duran Duran underwater-sounding bass, with Jackson’s sultry vocals over the top proving to be preferrable to Simo LeBon’s bellowing. “Guilt” goes down a more funky disco route, although it also leans to the vocal stylings and choppy guitar of the first album. Which is no bad thing.

“The Couples” leans even further to the band’s style circa Someone To Drive You Home, although there’s no threat of falling over; it’s also got an edge of 60’s girl-band pop, mixed with a bit of bubblegum punk, although it doesn’t really go anywhere.

Befitting of a song that’s 1:58 long, “I Liked The Boys” is a good old fashioned New York punk song, with a bit of Talking Heads added for good measure. Having run out of good 80s styles, “Here Comes The Serious Bit” nicks the opening synths of the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” and plops it into the Blondes’ previous single “Seperated By Motorways”. Slightly underwhelming.

Things pick up with the slow and sinister “Round The Hairpin”, which also has a bit of the Talking Heads about it, although it’s more reminiscnet of the repetitive, ominous beats of David Byrne and Brian Eno’s collaboration, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. This is a very good thing indeed, though the song does drag on for a bit.

“Too Clever By Half” repeats the slow, funky stylings with some breathy, falsetto vocals, while “Erin O’Connor” is another relapse into Someone To Drive You Home propulsive punk (with added bells and whistles). “Nostalgia”…is also a bit like Talking Heads. Methinks Byrne and co were being played a lot in the studio, especially Stop Making Sense, considering the similarity of this song’s simplistic drum loop to that heard in the stripped-down live version of “Psycho Killer” on the aformentioned Heads album.

“I’m Going To Hell”, much as was the case with the closer on We Are Scientists’ Brain Thrust Mastery, is, aruguably, one of the best tracks on the album; a cacophony of clashing pianos, drums, guitar and the like, reminiscnet of the Flaming Lips’ cover of “What A Wondeful World”, only a lot more upbeat (in terms of music, anyway).

The lyrics on this album, clearly a lot less inspired by Jarvis Cocker than the last time, are a lot less girly posturing, and much more grown-up relationship talk; if the first album was a 19-year-old girl’s diary, “Couples”‘s lyrics are more like a column in a glossy Sunday paper supplement. Which makes it sound crap, so that is a crap comparsion. But I’m sure after you’ve heard the album you’ll agree with me. Or at least think I’m an idiot.

So it looks like The Long Blondes are this year’s first sophomore album success story; not by trying to grow up and sound darker and more serious, but by growing up, feeling more confident in themeslves, and having fun.

Download “The Couples”