Monster Bobby
Gaps
Hypnote
It seems like 2007 was a particularly good year to tune in to the short and sweet side of lo-fi indie pop. Dean Wells and his different projects released an unending stream of 1-minute gold, Sweden’s The Faintest Ideas followed suit with a slightly more punk version on their debut, and now the Pipettes’ guitarist Monster Bobby gives us the electro-inflected version.
Gaps introduces itself sweaty and scummy with a New Order-esque synth beat rolled up in dirt and detritus from the span of decades on “The Closest Experience to That of Being With You is the Experience of Taking Drugs” and it still manages a cute, if slightly roughed up boy/girl duet. “The Postcard” brings the charm into sharper focus, almost to the point of becoming a Jens Lekman homage complete with deep crooning vocals singing a stinging, funny love song. Both “I Heard You Moved Away” and “You Going Out” play out like early Arab Strap-like story-songs, with a stronger dose of optimism in their romantic obsessions. The fluttering and warm “I Live For Your Fleeting Touch” casts aside all pathos to soak up the wonder of the moment.
Monster Bobby captures these real-life moments throughout with field recordings like the ambient crowd noise of “The Postcard” and the canned instructions of a train on “Last Stop, All Change.” These integrations of reality into the compositions breathe a special kind of life into Gaps and make it one of the lovelier statements to come out of last year’s overly fertile crop of releases.
Hypnote: http://www.hypnote.com
