Should - The Great Pretend

Obwohl Marc Ostermeier und Tanya Maus gemeinsam seit 1995 musizieren, wurde jedoch kürzlich mit "The Great Pretend" erst ihr viertes reguläres Album unter dem Bandnamen Should veröffentlicht. Grund dafür war eine dreizehnjährige Auszeit des aktuell in Baltimore angesiedelten Duos. 

Im Gegensatz zu früheren Veröffentlichungen lassen es Should hier deutlich entspannter, sanfter und subtiler zugehen. "The Great Pretend" gehört daher eher in die "Dreampop"-Schublade als in die mit der Aufschrift "Shoegaze". Die Ausnahme dieser Regel stellt der Song "Dalliance" dar.  

"The Great Pretend" sollte man sich anhören, wenn man Slowdive, Stars und Yo La Tengo mag. Hier ist das Video zur ersten Single "Down A Notch":

Don’t Send Me Your Regrets opens the album and is a sort of foreword, largely a verse without a chorus.  To me, it’s more of a song fragment that sets a mood, much like some of F. M. Cornog’s East River Pipe songs like Wholesale Lies from The Gasoline Age.  The one cover on the album (and it’s a great one) is Loveless Devotion by Over The Atlantic’s Nik Brinkman and Bevan Smith (from their album Dimensions) and it’s a softer interpretation with staggered harmonies from Marc Ostermeier and Tanya Maus accompanied by crisp guitar and bass.  The rougher edges of the original version appear towards the end of the song.

What’s a bit different on this album compared to Should’s last is that rhythms seem more energetic (dare I say danceable?) as in Mistakes Are Mine, Everybody Knows (with drum machine and statement-response lyrics) and Dalliance, yet there are moments (like In Monotone) that are more contemplative with gentle keyboards, light electric guitar and drums; it’s a Shoegaze One Note Samba.

Down A Notch is an excellent first single for the album, another example of an upbeat song with paradoxical lyrics. A Lonely Place is a duet reminiscent of some of Brian Wilson’s songs from the romantic yet melancholic Pet Sounds era, it reminds me of Caroline No.  Amends explores a darker mood and sound.  Gold Stars is like a gentle sonic waterfall, similar to Turned Tables from Like A Fire Without Sound.

The album closes with the curiously upbeat yet shy introspection of Don’t Get To Know Me, and there it is again, the complexities of relationships and emotions—songs that often express feelings better when one is at a loss for words.
(wajobu)