Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

5...according to our Brian on Thu 09 Sep, 2010.

Feel privileged to be reviewing the new album by these NY pop classicists. Once unfairly derided as some sort of Sonic Youth hanger-on/rip-off outfit, they've gradually metamorphosed over the past 15 years into a fine atmospheric progressive pop band, albeit one with left-field aspirations & integrity. I missed their last album, heard a couple of singles & rather liked them, but this is another transition yet again. With much more emphasis on crystalline electronics & downtempo moods, they're sounding much more exotic & European these days. Considering none of them ancestrally stem from the States they've every right to take flight from the somewhat limiting aspects of the US rock underground. Many songs fit nicely into the legendary 4AD mould of ethereal, spectral post-Cocteaus beauty without particularly sounding like the much loved Scots 3 piece. They've just got THAT magic essence. The beloved vocal stylings of Kazu Mazino are still largely to the forefront of many songs but the guitar & drums minimalism of yore is often eschewed in favour of rich, sensual electronic textures imbued with an air of melancholy & mystique. I can hear how maybe fans of more downbeat Teutonic music such as Lali Puna or the more reflective output of Glass Candy would warm to this album. 'Love or Prison' is a wonderful example of this. That distinctive near Caribbean guitar skank they've virtually trademarked DOES appear in earnest on 'Oslo' but once again, a song that sounds like an outtake from '...Damaged Lemons' is given a loving rub with some discreet electronic atmospherics and subtle sonic beatery. Showing kids like Warpaint they're never gonna be abandoned in the wilderness of the 00's, this is a masterclass in how to grow older with dignity & stay relevant & innovative. Ace!

To play these clips you need to either update your browser (Norman Records recommends Google Chrome) or update your Flash plugin.

· Blonde Redhead return this autumn with the release of ‘Penny
Sparkle’, the sublime new album from the fêted New York trio.

· ‘Penny Sparkle’ – the band’s third for 4AD - marks another
sonic twist in their already adventurous canon.

· It was made over the last year with the band journeying
between New York and Stockholm to work with production duo
Van Rivers and The Subliminal Kid (Fever Ray, Glasser) with
additional production work undertaken with Drew Brown (Beck,
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Radiohead). As with their previous
album, ’23’, Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, My Bloody Valentine,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs) was enlisted to mix it.

· Kazu Mazino from the band speaks of the record: “I can't say
what Penny Sparkle is about just yet. I remember talking to Ed
(from 4AD) one day and telling him that I had a vision that I
was traveling to far away places to complete it. (Then) I landed
in snowy slippery Stockholm... and here. Henrik and Peder in
Stockholm and Drew in NY and after with everyone in NY again.
I fell in love with the music like falling for someone you've
known for a long time. It was dreamy and sometimes was very
stormy. At times, I felt like a shepherd who was trying to herd
five stallions into a yard (unsuccessfully). I felt like I was a link
to everyone. I remained still and the others were constantly
moving around it. I am not sure what Penny Sparkle is but I
hope I offered to them as much as they offered me. I know
that we have never made a record this way and if I could go
back in time, I would do it exactly the same way again”.

· ‘Penny Sparkle’ features beautiful artwork, as designed by longtime collaborators, Stefanie and David from Triboro Design.