MUSIC REVIEW: BLONDFIRE - MY SOMEDAY

Blondfire - My Someday

Released: 2008

Genre: Pop

It's as if they are begging to get on the one-hit-wonder wagon of the mainstream scene; but this band is already amazing. The inclusion of "L-L-Love"- from when this duo was still named Astaire - sticks out unpleasantly at track number three. With a string of moderate successes, this song has become the trademark of the band. On their merchandize page, there are almost as many "L-L-Love" imprinted products as Blondfire ones.

Copyright conflicts with the Fred Astaire estate forced Erica and Bruce Driscoll, Michigan born siblings of Brazilian heritage, to change their name. Plunged to darkness again, in April of last year, Blondfire emerged with their first LP album. It is a wonderful collection of eleven new synth-pop, “U.K. influenced” songs, plus their only exalted, over-produced, nearly-hit "L-L-Love", which was better left in its own EP from years ago.

The textured sound of the album accompanies Erica’s dark melancholic and slightly raspy voice. Easy to remember are the lyrics that breeze through telling a story that leaves the stand alone power of the songs untouched. If only it weren’t for that one misplaced song; this album boasts everything else.

The title track comes first; "My Someday" begins with playful synthesizer sounds, and builds to beatbox rhythms backdropping guitars. The lyrics comprise of unlikely combinations of simple words succeeding at an easy and catchy mix: "All across the great divide, / we’ll make friends below the tide, / 'Cause our love is ocean wide" ("Into the Sea").

The album can easily be classified as a concept album: each song plays an essential page in a storybook of a girl’s feelings, one most girls experience at least once. "My Someday" takes its listener from the happy prelude of a mood swing to the blurry "Aluminum Stars" vision of the often tearful end without constricting its audience to specific scenes.

Though they don't sound exactly like anybody else, Blondfire are decisively 80s in style. Listed under their 'Influences' box on MySpace is the band Tears for Fears. As promised, their imprint is apparent throughout the record with various drum beats, although Blondfire’s are subtle in comparison.

A close ear also showcases Blondfire’s Brazilian roots in a series of brief strings of danceable notes that share the limelight with other accents. The songs are heavily polyphonic and varied instrumentally in the beginning including synthesizer music, electric and acoustic guitars, and drums that resemble gourd rattles. As the album takes its course, the songs become increasingly more acoustic.

It’s not uncommon to see EP songs make the LPs. EPs, in a sense, are only sneak peaks. But there were more fitting tunes than "L-L-Love" which suspends Blondfire over the dangerous commercial drop zone of one-hit bands, a place all this talent doesn’t deserve to go. If it was a safety net or a marketing strategy to ensure sales for this independent band, it was stupid. This minor sin destroyed the identity of a clean, honest album. It was almost flawless.

SHARP OBJEX Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Comments

[peepeeface]

agreeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddd