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The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine
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Sitting comfortably? Once upon a time there was a band called The Delgados. From shy, Glasgow indie beginnings they ramped up their sound until it was a voracious pop monster, swapping boy-girl vocals, picking up a Mercury Prize nomination and chalking up a couple of classic albums along the way. These Delgados found a way to marry a big pop production with hummable melodies without losing the muso edge that so appeals to critics. And did they have any hits? Did they heck.
It’s the bleeding obvious, but yes, there’s more than one type of pop. For argument’s sake, we’ll pitch brazen, unstoppable, commercial stuff against the pristine, “perfect”, resolutely unsellable type that The Shortwave Set (and The Delgados before them) peddle – there’s genius on both sides, but rarely shall the twain meet.
If this sounds rather bleak, it can’t be helped. It’s not very daring to suggest Replica Sun Machine isn’t going to shift by the lorry load. In a more caring world, there would be hits galore in the modern glam rock of ‘Now ‘Til ‘69’ and honky-tonk larks of ‘No Social’, and dreamy ballads ‘Yesterdays To Come’ – showing the interplay of singers Ulrika Bjorsne and Andy Pettitt at its best – and ‘House Of Lies’ would soundtrack a summer that never comes. As it is, the UK Top 40 is subjugated by the chubby thumb of Timbaland.
But wait – there’s another super-producer here. Beat-pop Midas Danger Mouse declared the ‘Set’s debut The Debt Collection to be one of his faves, and gamely stepped in to put his money where his mouth is. His sympathetic promptings have given the big pop we started with a healthy glow; guitars shimmer and shake, theremins whistle, keyboards soothe and the whole album brims with the kind of melodic confidence usually associated with ABBA and The Beatles.
So there is another way. You don’t need quite so many Madonna records, people. Spare some bandwidth for The Shortwave Set.
Matthew Horton
