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Jay Bennett

Slow Club: Yeah So

Jay Bennett | April 7, 2010 | 9:30am
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Artist: Slow Club

Title: Yeah So
Release date: March 30
Label: Moshi Moshi

Breaking up never sounded so fun as it does when sung by the angel-voiced Rebecca Taylor and her Slow Club bandmate Charles Watson. When they sing "I've gotta ruin tonight / Because there's no good way to say I'm leaving you / There is no good way to say I'm leaving you," it sounds almost as if they were delivering good news instead of bad on the piano ballad "There Is No Good Way to Say I'm Leaving You."

These two Brits sound even more charming while singing "Cause I've been tired and hopeful / For far too long now / So I'm giving it up, giving up, giving up on love," on the poppy downer "Giving Up on Love."



So what gives with Slow Club? Why all the heartache wrapped up in cotton candy? You get the feeling they've been asked that question before, and I'm guessing their answer lies in the album's title: "Yeah, so?"

On several songs, including the nearly-too-cute-for-its-own-good opener, "When I Go," Taylor and Watson come off as a latter-day Simon & Garfunkel, with their finger-picking and tight harmonies and pop-folk melodies. Then they'll turn on a dime, kick it up a notch, and sound like they're drunkenly bashing out three-chord sing-alongs in an Irish pub.

It all works very well for the first half of the record, but Slow Club seems to run out of tricks or ideas or both. Even their abundant amount of charm (I fully expect to hear one of these songs on an iPad commercial before too long) couldn't keep my full attention by the time I was on track 8. 

Fans of pop-folk, She & Him, and British cuteness should take note of Slow Club.

Best song: "Giving Up on Love"
Rotation: Medium
Deja Vu: An older, wiser, settled-down Los Campesinos!
I'd rather listen to: The young, silly, and unhinged Los Campesinos!
Grade: B

"Nothing Not New" is a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about it. Why? Because in the words of his editor, Martin Cizmar, he suffers from "aesthetic atrophy," a wasting away of one's ability to embrace new and different music as one ages. Read more about this all-too-common ailment here.

The "Nothing Not New" Archives

April 6 -- Black Francis: NonStopErotik (B+)
April 5 -- Growing: Pumps! (F)

April 2 -- Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: Medicine County (B)
April 1 -- Dum Dum Girls: I Will Be (A-)
March 31 -- The Dillinger Escape Plan: Option Paralysis (B+)
March 30 -- Local Natives: Gorilla Manor (B)
March 29 -- The Bird and the Bee: Interpreting the Masters: Hall & Oates (C)

March 26 -- Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Rush to Relax (C+)
March 25 -- Let's Wrestle: In the Court of the Wrestling Let's (B)
March 24 -- Goldfrapp: Head First (D)
March 23 -- She & Him: Volume 2 (A-)
March 22 -- Broken Bells: Broken Bells (C+)

March 19 -- Locksley: Be In Love (B)
March 18 -- jj: jj no. 3 (C-)
March 17 -- Xiu Xiu: Dear God, I Hate Myself (D+)
March 16 -- Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do (B-)
March 15 -- April Smith and the Great Picture Show: Songs for a Sinking Ship (C)

March 12 -- The Morning Benders: Big Echo (C+)
March 11 -- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil's Tattoos (B)
March 10 -- Acrassicauda: Only the Dead See the End of War (C-)
March 9 -- Titus Andronicus: The Monitor (B+)
March 8 -- Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks (A)

March 5 -- Liars: Sisterworld (A-)
March 4 -- Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (A-)
March 3 -- Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain't No Grave (B+)
March 2 -- High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine (C)
March 1 -- Joanna Newsom: Have One on Me (C)

Feb. 26 -- Freeway & Jake One: The Stimulus Package (D)
Feb. 25 -- Past Lives: Tapestry of Webs (B-)
Feb. 24 -- Shout Out Louds: Work (B)
Feb. 23 -- Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (B+)
Feb. 22 -- Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago (D+)

Feb. 19 -- The Strange Boys: Be Brave (B+)
Feb. 18 -- Tindersticks: Falling Down a Mountain (A)
Feb. 17 -- Lightspeed Champion: Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You (C-)
Feb. 16 -- Adam Green: Minor Love (B-)
Feb. 15 -- Juliana Hatfield: Peace & Love (B+)

Feb. 12 -- Massive Attack: Heligoland (C-)
Feb. 11 -- The Watson Twins: Talking to You, Talking to Me (C-)
Feb. 10 -- Hot Chip: One Life Stand (B+)
Feb. 9 -- You Say Party! We Say Die!: XXXX (B+)
Feb. 8 -- Allison Moorer: Crows (B)

Feb. 5 -- Joe Pug: Messenger (C)
Feb. 4 -- The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack (A)
Feb. 3 -- Polysics: Absolute Polysics (B-)
Feb. 2 -- Pierced Arrows: Descending Shadows (A-)
Feb. 1 -- The Brunettes: Paper Doll (B-)

Jan. 29 -- Basia Bulat: Heart of My Own (C)
Jan. 28 -- Priestess: Prior to the Fire (B)
Jan. 27 -- The Magnetic Fields: Realism (B)
Jan. 26 -- Four Tet: There Is Love in You (D)
Jan. 25 -- Delphic: Acolyte (C+)

Jan. 22 -- The Hot Rats: Turn Ons (B+)
Jan. 21 -- Los Campesinos!: Romance Is Boring (A-)
Jan. 20 -- Midlake: The Courage of Others (D-)
Jan. 19 -- Laura Veirs: July Flame (B+)
Jan. 18 -- Beach House: Teen Dream (C)

Jan. 15 -- Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM (B)
Jan. 14 -- OK Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (D)
Jan. 13 -- Eels: End Times (A-)
Jan. 12 -- Spoon: Transference (B)
Jan. 11 -- Editors: In This Light and On This Evening (D+)

Jan. 8 -- Surfer Blood: Astro Coast (B+)
Jan. 7 -- Yeasayer: Odd Blood (C-)
Jan. 6 -- Cold War Kids: Behave Yourself EP (B+)

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