Bishop Allen – Grrr… Review
Grrr… is the third studio album from Harvard-grad pop group Bishop Allen. Unlike their grandiose last album, The Broken String, the band simplifies their sound on this disc. The straightforward, cute instrumentation provides a perfect background for Justin Rice’s straightforward, cute vocals.
The album opens with ‘Dimmer’, a quirky, childish tune. Rice’s wavery voice on this track starts out a bit annoying, but as he gets to the chorus, the warbling makes way for a more pleasing melody. Thankfully, this is really the only time throughout the album where Rice’s voice is in the least bit aversive. In tracks such as ‘The Lion & The Teacup’ and ‘Cue The Elephants’ Rice actually uses his voice so successfully that what he is saying becomes irrelevant. Which might be a good thing, considering fun but pointless lines like “The morning belonged to the grapefruit.”
Musically, nothing too complex shows up on this album, which makes the album all the more charming. It’s nothing too overblown; rather, it revels in its own simplicity. The simple guitars, simple keyboards, and simple drums all mesh together wonderfully to create an album full of pop gems.
While none of it is boringly familiar, the band also manages to stay away from being abrasively odd. His voice never quites get as warbly as, say, Alec Ounsworth (from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). At the same time, he never sounds intentionally poppy enough for us to confuse him with someone like Ben Gibbard. The closest parallel I can come up with is Fishboy, who has the same odd-but-familiar poppiness.
The one problem I have with this album is that it’s quite mood-dependent. As I listened to it more and more, I began to realize that, depending on what mood I’m in, I either love it to pieces or I can’t wait for it to be over. I guess you could say that with all indiepop though. Other than that, this is an outstanding album that I would highly recommend to anyone.
Check out their myspace and their website for more information. While you’re at it, check out this video of them playing ‘Butterfly Nets’ (from The Broken String) in a bathroom.
Bishop Allen – Don\'t Hide Away
Bishop Allen – The Lion & The Tea Cup
Bishop Allen – The Ancient Commonsense Of Things
Tags: album
