Chairlift - Bruises (This year's "Heartbeats"/"Young Folks")

this is fucking awful. seriously, it's like some slick but passionless female-led twee-cure tribute band. "evident utensil" made my teeth itch. if i never hear that again, it'll be too soon.

"bruises" is marginally better -- at least, the mercifully vocal-free middle eight is OK, as is the "doo-doo-doo" bit. but the combination of the, heh, "beat" and the rest of the singing could drive a man to drink.

This is so terrible. I was going to start a thread to express my hatred for this song but the search turned this up.
I heard this on a commercial last year I think; heard the full version today on the radio driving home from work. The part where the male vocal comes in makes me see red.
I am a grown man and I usually have a high tolerance for shit but this song ruined my drive.

The album transforms some golden elements to lead, maybe the rhythm programming is at fault. That said, the video for "Evident Utinsil" is the most psychedelic bit of video compression kludge hacking I've encountered:

Not the same thing but reminded me a bit of Takagi Masakatsu:

Just saw them. Not really shimmery, more just kind of loudly echoey. It reminded me of mid-80s Peter Gabriel. Sort of enjoyed lead singer's hippie antics. Liked two songs out of the six I heard, didn't stay for "Bruises."

http://vimeo.com/11398692

awesome

Their new album, 'Something', came out today and is now on Spotify, and I'm on what must be my 4th or 5th listen now, and it's pretty pretty good. It's definitely doing a lot more for me than their debut did (although it had some decent stuff on it, I thought, like 'Planet Health'). I don't think there's anything on here as sickly sweet as 'Bruises', which is a good thing in my eyes, and my impression is that this is more of a melodic, poppy song-based record, with some (but not all) of the quirk toned down.

this album is really good! first great album of 2012.

This is a good album. Maybe not a great one for me. 'I Belong In Your Arms' towers above everything else, but there are some lovely moments on the rest of it.

'take it out on me' is pretty great

This is a good album. Maybe not a great one for me. 'I Belong In Your Arms' towers above everything else, but there are some lovely moments on the rest of it.

― Somewhere between Fergie and Jesus (Alex in Montreal), Monday, January 30, 2012 9:17 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

cosign all of this. "Take It Out on Me" sounds a lot like some 80s/90s pop song but I can't put my finger on it. the whole production dredges up nostalgia for me in a way that might ruin it if I figure out the sources.

listening now, the bass line is amazing in "I Belong in Your Arms". Maybe the overall sound is an a-ha rehash but it's so refreshing to hear an indie electro track with musicianship in both composition and instrumental and vocal performance.

Re "Take It Out on Me" 80s flashback: In the line "cause business is cruel" -- the eay the final L is pronounced, plus maybe the near-trisyllabicity of "business" -- I'm getting mild Claudia Brücken vibes, possibly strengthened by how the synth is being hammered along in a manner not entirely unlike "Duel".

There are some great lyrics on here, simple but very effective. Like in the last song, "but if I gave you what you're asking for / I know you wouldn't want it anymore..."

Lovely album.

i'll have to check this out. I did quite like that "Bruises" (I'm immune to twee shit), but the rest of the debut wasn't great.

refreshing to hear an indie electro track with musicianship in both composition and instrumental and vocal performance.

v much agree with this (for the whole album really, not just IBiYA); nothing at all there is timid or defensive.

Haha watched the "Amanaemonesia" video now, they have seen some K Bush videos from c1980 perhaps?

Oh and since my association engine seems to be running in overdrive: Just heard "Bruises" for the first time as well, and uhm might Lena of Eurovision-winning 2010 fame have been aware of this thing? :-P

Only had this on in the background in the morning around breakfast and coffee, but can confirm Tim's call that the first tracks are a perfect run of 1985 pop.

Fantastic single.

Is "Amanaemonesia" the first single off this album? I listened to that one on the radio and I thought it was pretty good. I've only listened once but I got the impression that they were chaneling Kate Bush and Stereolab at some points. The host had a hard time pronouncing its name properly.

This left me a bit cold on first listen and I'm struggling to put my finger on why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEOem7U2LPE

This also brings to mind the Christine McVie songs on Tango In The Night for me.

^^^^^^ yep

Really like the record but it's incoherent as fuck. I've listened to it several times all the way through and I'm still struggling to get a sense of it as one thing at all.

Amanaemonesia was played at the party I was at last night and it sounded pretty great in that setting, but I Belong In Your Arms is absolutely the best track on the album.

Really like 'Take it out on me' but cannot for the life of me pinpoint the songs it sounds exactly like (in terms of tune, not production)

It doesn't strike me as being particularly incoherent, it's all pretty standard 80s-inflected indie blog pop to these ears. There are a couple of nice songs but I think that 2/3rds of the album fall down by just not being very interesting melodically. It's one of those records where you can hear that from the basslines upward.

There are a handful of good songs though - I like Take It Out On Me and Cool As A Fire particularly. The rest I can take or leave.

i gave this a listen a couple of months ago - had never heard of them before, saw a couple of people raving about the album - and thought it was extremely dull

better than 2 bears

marginally

Aside from "I Belong In Your Arms", "Wrong Opinion" is the standout for me. So glassy. It's like a female-fronted Icehouse.

just realized my last post reads like a compliment, is not the intention

I didn't care much for the first album, but this one presses a lot of my buttons, providing a bed for Polachek's remarkable vocals that isn't as averse to simple pleasures. Its rewarded repeat listens and I think its the best thing of its sort (New Wave textured indie pop) so far this year. That said, it'll probably fall out of rotation when the School of Seven Bells LP is released.

Agreed, I started off just liking the ones mentioned but really enjoying the whole thing now.

new one is a thumbs up for me. amanamanamanesia is my fave so far

I haven't made my mind up on this despite a few plays. It reminds me of Glasser, with more pop song structure and hooky choruses. There is some Stereolab sounding stuff there and plenty of other influences.. I'm not sure it is more than the collection of influences, whether it stands out at all. "I belong in your arms" is pretty catchy.

Its a charcoal sketchbook by a preternaturally talented but untutored artist. The production is thin, the sound patches preset, the lyrics vague when present. One only wonders whether a full set of oils and canvas would ruin the charm.

^ Posted in the wrong thread. I thought I was in the Grimes thread.

Band reminds me of an amuse-bouche

really enjoying the new album, especially with repeat plays. some quality infectious party-numbers stacked upfront ("sidewalk safari", "i belong in your arms", "take it out on me") and some delicate and unconventional, though no less pretty, stuff tailing it out. love the unique phrasing and spacey, almost alt-country leanings of "frigid springs" and the icy Victorialand-isms of "turning". there's a distinct Sincerely Yours vibe happening in parts and a whole lot of 80s obviously, but i'm finding the package as a whole quite original and refreshing.

It's so much better than that first album. Can't believe it's the same band TBH.

Just saw them live. Fantastic show. Caroline is adorable.

I still love this album.

"I Belong in Your Arms" is year end top five for sure. Love that bass line.

Great song. The ones that I keep coming back to the most are 'Wrong Opinion', 'Amanaemonesia' and especially 'Met Before'.

Hopefully gonna see them in SF

Very likeable live band if last night at the Scala is anything to go by. They seemed to amp up the 80s-ness even more than on the album and de-tweed Bruises a little - by swapping out the strawberries verse for one from Melt With You - which fit better with stuff from the new album.

"i belong in your arms" is a monster of a song, have had it on repeat all day

I STILL love this album.

Top ten single

I STILL love this album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtUJ4b2jsw

another wonderful single, extremely excited for this

unsurprisingly this rules. kinda sequenced weirdly with the most pop moments right near the end though

Loved all the tracks that have dropped so far; Hit Me Where It Hurts is doing it for me the most of the new tracks.

that's probably one of the weaker ones for me, my favourites of the new ones are "pang" and "shut up caroline". "door" and "so hot you're hurting my feelings" are some of the very best songs i've heard this year still

this album is so sick

as a white man I can't believe the misogynists at pfork only gave this a 7.3. ;)

(sorry)

About 2/3rds of this album is great; the rest that isn't sounds like something made by the kind of white woman Kelela called her out for being.

what does that mean?

she wrote "n***as" on her instagram last year, quoting a lyric, and kelela saw it and was understandably mad about it

she wrote it uncensored that is

"Pang" is an excellent Dave Matthews Band rewrite, "Caroline Shut Up" is excellent, period. Sometimes she's too in love with the sound of her voice.

i don't blame her too much when she has a voice like that

over a full album the static tempos make this feel a little inert but I love so much of it, definite Imogen Heap vibes

Caroline Polachek has coronavirus :(

Do you have a source on that? I don’t see any news site or social networks reporting anything about it.

which one of y’all gave caroline polachek coronavirus pic.twitter.com/pjy17xaVab

— original visual (@poppysdaddi) March 14, 2020

yeah surprising that pitchfork or whoever didn't pick up on it. but it was in her ig story

Given their closeness at a recent London performance it wouldn't surprise me if Christine &tQ is also infected

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dtUmoxGT8I

lol at this christmas version of "so hot you're hurting my feelings"

I fully endorse the concept of Christmas versions of existing tracks

this album is really, really good btw

― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson)

Brad otm here. It may have taken me five years, but I just had a moment with Moth. The songs I dismissed are suddenly sounding glorious.

I burned through everything related to Caroline this past year, and Moth was the album that grew on me most (though Something is still my favorite Chairlift by a long way). Sure, the intro track is kinda nothing, and "Unfinished Business" grates, but the eight other tracks are great. "Ottawa to Osaka" got clowned upthread but I love it. Does You Inspire You is the album that really doesn't have the depth of the other two. underwritten, and not much to recommend it past "Bruises"

Caroline's cover of The Corrs' "Breathless" is probably unnecessary but pretty lolsy.

i think it's kinda brilliant honestly

I like it a lot but I have no idea how long I will feel that way.

it's a 2020 version of enya

her new song "bunny is a rider" is fabulous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ5y2GMVVNQ

there's an of Montreal song called "Bunny Is No Kind Of Rider". Are they referring to the same thing?

pretty nice song, I also thought of the Of Montreal song

the weirdest thing is that I had a super disturbing dream last night in which my nephew killed a baby rabbit in front of me and then I woke up to see this... https://t.co/0DEYS0xJsu

— of Montreal~she/he/they/them (@xxofMontrealxx) July 14, 2021

Request to change title to Chairlift / Caroline Polachek was trying to post the new song but couldn’t find a Polachek thread and forgot this existed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zEQJrggKgk

real ray of light vibes here

not her catchiest song, but a fun video, would like some of that glassware

I love this

I think she deserves a solo thread now.

She’s at the top of her game, not sure it will be as good as Pang but it definitely has potential.

Ooh I like this one. The b-section was unexpected, deflating the build, but then that wonderful coda pays off that tension later. Love the production

Yeah second time listening to these and loving the 90’d vibe

*this

ooh this is great