CD review - We are the Pipettes
When I grow up I want to be a Pipette.
Who wouldn't want to be a space rocking girl, exploring the universe in thigh high moons boots whilst grooving along to the anthematic opening track? They are so cool they make cheesey rhyming couplets sound kick arse. These are not the kind of chicks to cry in front of the mirror and wonder if they look fat in their fab lime green jumpsuits - they are ace and they know it. Fun loving party tracks like “Pull shapes” assert themselves boldly whilst ballads such as “Judy” are honey coated malice in perfect three part harmony, exactly the kind of track you'd want played at your ten (fifteen) year high school reunion.
It's all about fusion; if you're a pipette you can be everything. The track “Why did you stay” sounds like surfer girls turned prom queens, freezing the room with stone cold stares as their riffs slide over you. It's a celebration of chicks that rock across the decades - 60's meets 90's - as if all the members of Hole went out and got beehives.
This is the perfect album to listen to when gearing up for a Saturday night out dancing. I can see myself putting on mascara, drinking a G and T, occasionally pausing to rock out in front of the mirror, whilst pulling my dancing shoes on. Lots of vogue poses interspersed with obligatory hand clapping.
The Pipettes strikes me as the kind of band that would be amazing live. Their strength of character and performance style just leaps off the cd and onto the stage in my mind. I really can see the start of the ballad “A Winter's Sky” in a single spotlight of forlorn longing, and imagine the gentle swaying of the back-up vocals.
However for all my adoration, I'm not sure how this collection of songs works as an album. I love each track individually, but overall it lacks a certain cohesion as it rollercoasters from one track to the next. But perhaps that is part of the appeal, cause if you want to be a Pipette, you've got to be on your toes.
Because just when you think you've them pegged as 60’s mod, along comes the “hey mickey”-esque 80's stand off “Your kisses are wasted on me” - which then internally defies itself with haunting sliding lyrics reminiscent of “The Clouds”, before jolting you down to earth with the cutting acid statement “You're just a child”. Nice.
So don’t let The Pipette’s dulcet shalalala-ing lull you into a false sense of security, their show stopper “It hurts to see you dance so well” has lyrics to die for: “Half past one on the dance-floor, and my thoughts have turned to murder” ultimately sums up the feelings of all forced to face the one who’s jilted them. Saucy subject matter is playfully explored in “Dirty Mind” and “One night stand” and I am sure I have dated the guy in “ABC”, or at least the statement “He knows all about the movements of the planets, But he don't know how to move me” resonates well. “Because it's not love (But it’s still a feeling)” is my favourite ballad, but the opening track “We are the pipettes” is the song most often played on the internal radio of my mind.
I like these girls. If I met them at a party we'd get along just fine and the alcopops would be on me.
1 Comments:
Yeah I just downloaded this CD and I have to say I didn't love it. However I have only listened to it once so I definately have to give it another shot. Maybe cause I had read all these great things about it on "pitchfork" that it was over hyped for me..... I thought it sounded a little empty and simple (maybe that's the point). But I love the name its so cute! Anyway will listen another 4 times (I think you need 5 listens to 'get' an albumn) and see if I change my mind.
Post a Comment
<< Home