The Naked And Famous - Passive Me - Aggressive You
(left to right: Aaron Short, Thom Powers, Alisa Xayalith, Jesse Wood, David Beadle)
Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, The Naked and Famous are a band founded in 2008 by singers Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith and synth player Aaron Short. The trio were soon joined by drummer Jesse Wood and bassist David Beadle who complete the quintet. TNAF are currently on tour with The Foals to support their debut album, Passive Me - Aggressive You.
The first thing that is really to be noticed about TNAF are the impressive vocals from Alisa Xayalith that, at one moment can remind you of Cyndi Lauper (Girls just wanna have fun) or electro-pop princess La Roux and at other moments can conjure up the same delicate whispery tones of Romy Madley Croft of The XX.
Opening the album is All Of This, a song about the slow disintergration of a relationship. Driving drum beats and bass lines intersect and weave through the synths as Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers tell us of the failing relationship:
"if there's anyone around when we collide
we throw them in the middle
they can pick sides
as the plans turn into compromise
the promises all turn into lies
the spite builds up and i can't get through
passive me aggressive you"
We are then transported into another world as the second single from the album, Punching In A Dream, begins. The abrasive guitar sounds and electro drums recall images of Psych-pop heroes MGMT while the harmonies of Xayalith and Powers are a reminder of The XX once again.
While listening to the album throughout you realise there is a variation between the psych-rock aspect, anthems like: Frayed, Spank and A Wolf In Geek's Clothing and songs such as The Sun and The Source which toy with different textures and layers teamed up with hypnotising vocals and playful intertwining melodies.
The first single taken from the album, Young Blood, with it's cathy chorus:
"the bittersweet between my teeth
trying to find the inbetween
fall back in love eventually
yeah yeah yeah yeah"
serves as a great fist-pounding live anthem that is bound to be popular during this years festival season.
It's the surge of psychedelic rock and energetic electro-pop textures with catchy chorus lines that make this fun record full of 80's synth lines a dreamy breath of fresh air.
3.5*
Its so cool !! I love it Grace !! You've done an amasing job !!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll email you something more about it :)
xx
Can't work out wether I like them or not. At the moment they don't grate. Stand out tracks the singles anthemic and should go down well with festival crowds. Agree she has a good voice, rock stars from New Zealand could be a first
ReplyDeleteI agree I've never heard of Kiwi rock stars- perhaps if you stick with the album it might grow on you. I know a lot of my favourite albums are growers and I didn't "get" them with the first play but sticking with them payed off :)
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