I saw Big Troubles earlier this year at the Tunnels in Aberdeen.
They were the first band on the line-up and afterwards it was mentioned to me
that they’d recently signed to Slumberland and were touring as support to The
Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Big Troubles were beginning to make waves. They
were also really, really good. I’m a sucker for the style of shoegaze pop-rock
they be pedalling. Their first album, Worry,
was recorded at home by founding members Alex Craig and Ian Drennan with a drum
machine, and while it is definitely rough around the edges it also wears its
dream-pop heart on its sleeve. With Romantic
Comedy, their first on Slumberland Records, the band has filled out with
Sam Franklin on drums and Luka Usmiani on bass. It was also recorded in an
actual studio with Mitch Easter on production duty, who had previously worked
with bands like Pavement and R.E.M. It all makes an absolutely remarkable
difference, especially since the production is a squillion times cleaner.
It all kicks off with the positively breezy She Smiles For Pictures which is all catchy hooks and breathy
vocals. I mean catchy hooks as in you will be humming/whistling this for days
after listening to it. However, while the music is all smiley retro-pop, the
lyrics are a whole different kettle of fish. On the excellent Misery, Craig starts singing “It’s
always such a drag / it’s always such a shame / come on and have a laugh /
cause it’s always the same,” before the chorus of “I just wanna have some fun/
I just wanna / I just want some fun for once.” The track itself is a wonderful,
jangly track but the lyrics sound like something that Morrissey would have
written. This juxtaposition of whimsical, uplifting pop music with lyrics that
are definitely not uplifting is something that carries on throughout the album.
Of course, the song titles are also something of a giveaway. After Misery you’ve got Make It Worse followed by lead single Sad Girls. I remembered the tune from the Tunnels gig but didn’t
really follow the lyrics. “Love is in the air / but I don’t care / cause I
don’t care about love anymore,” follows on from verse after verse of cautionary
warnings about love. It’s the happiest sad song I’ve ever heard.
By the time we get to Minor
Keys there’s a little shift in the sound. It’s still perfectly evocative of
the classic pop rock music that has influenced the band since Worry (which is constantly compared
to/described as a low-rent Loveless)
but there’s also a bit more urgency. It’s almost more psychedelic in sound.
Fuzzier? I know I constantly write about fuzzy guitars but it’s really the best
way to describe it. Layered and fuzzy. Loads of effects. It’s great. It’s amped
up in Time Bomb which is probably my
favourite track on the album. I started playing air guitar without even
thinking about it. To me, that’s the mark of a really good track. It made me
lose my inhibitions. I mean, I’m writing this review in my pyjamas at lunchtime
so my inhibitions are already pretty low, but this track lowered ‘em some more.
Anyway, with Time Bomb there’s a
sense that somewhere along the way someone listened to a lot of J. Mascis as
the guitars squeal out the intro. Positively bombastic. The album closes with Never Mine which is perhaps the only
time the music isn’t happy where the lyrics are all sad and introspective. It
feels like a little bit anticlimactic after Time
Bomb but on repeat listens it serves as a fitting closer.
Overall, this is a cracking album. A touch schizophrenic, juxtapositional,
and other big made-up words that describe the dual nature of this fuzz-pop gem
which is definitely more ‘Dark Romantic Comedy’ than anything else. Get on it before they explode. Like a time
bomb.
Romantic
Comedy is out
October 3rd through Slumberland Records.
LD
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