Thunder Power – Love Yourself… EP

11 November 2008, Allan @ 5:45 pm Thunder Power Love Yourself... EP

Thunder Power is a strong name while, “Love Yourself….” implores some self doubt and half hearted commitment to a statement with just the use of “…”. The three trailing periods to end a statement is probably one of my favorite uses in online conversation and writing in general. I always feel like maybe a reader or another person will receive the wrong interpretation so I half-heartedly commit to saying something or if I want to implore some doubt and be mysterious.

Before I am carried away with something unrelated, Thunder Power is a female fronted group from Omaha, Nebraska home of Tilly & The Wall and Bright Eyes & Co. While I did ramble on the usage of “…”, it is related to frontwoman Kacynna’s singing as her singing style is unique in that she half-hearted commit to words. Her singing reminds me of Victoria Legrand of Beach House but with far less commitment but instead of a soul/dream pop style backing Legrand, Thunder Power takes more of a Belle and Sebastian approach. With Twee pop influences and voice that at first doesn’t seem to suit the style, it makes Thunder Power stand out among the simplistic folk/pop outfits that are a dime a dozen.

While Kacynna does have a unique voice, I think at times she needs a little more conviction. An example would be Imaginary Rules, a very strongly written song about being different and adding their ABBA reference: “humming Abba choruses
To all her friends “Take a Chance” stuck in their heads”. In this case I like the lyrics more then the actual song.

My favorite song is (Why Don’t You Go) Take a Hike. Basically from the title it’s self explanatory, the song is telling you to piss off but it’s sung so beautifully, maybe that’s why Thunder Power needed to write a song about leaving them alone because I’d come back for more based on this track alone.

As an EP it’s solid all around, nothing over the top… no big exclamation marks…or anything special really. Hopefully future releases are successful because I think they are more then capable.

Rating: 4 out of 5

(Why Don’t You Go) Take A Hike by Thunder Power
Imaginary Rules by Thunder Power

Video for Take A Hike after the jump.

“Take a Hike” Thunder Power from Lindsay Trapnell on Vimeo.