The Beautiful Few
If You Can Change Your City You're Sure To Change Your Style
Big Rig Records

The Beautiful Few have apparently undergone some changes since their last album. Since I'm new to them I'm going to assume these changes are for the best. Well it sounds like it was.

"Your Summer My Summer" starts the album off with an infectious synth kick to the system. "When Slumming was Fashion to You" sees vocalist Kieran Carroll taunting 'When slumming was fashion to you I'd already kind of outgrown it'. He sounds like he's remaking Pulp's "Common People" in an Australian fashion. "What Was it like to Dance in 1936?" they ask dreamily, in a Belle and Sebastian swoon of a song. "Karen Gets Dumped at Tamarama The Ocean Somewhere Close to God, Bremen" is the title of a song and not a short story, but Beautiful Few seem happy to be literate. Carrroll writes some of the most intelligent lyrics around. Happily the melodies are great too. "Communism is Beautiful (Say the Girls of Sandringham)" lives up to its intriguing title and that's no mean feat. This is a fine record.

Copyright © 2005 Anna Maria Stjärnell