It’s been called many things, new pop, college rock, pop-rock, alt-rock, underground pop but the one I keep coming back to is new wave. Not that it is new anymore but the term does serve its purpose well. If punk was the attitude driven boot which kicked down the barricades and post-punk was the arty and too clever for it’s own good music which revelled in the new found musical freedom, new wave was the more edgy, angsty, awkward scene which slipped though almost unnoticed. It was melody driven, lyrically accessible and even, in some cases, able to camp out in chart territory. It spawned a wealth of scenes which followed, stopped music from going too far up its own middle eight and made pop music cool again.
And somewhere between The Car’s pop panache and The Pixies alternative attitudes you find American Pleasure Dome’s sound…great name by the way. Dark Side is a slow melancholic meander through textured music and personal reflections, Never Call is pop music balancing brains and good looks and Minnesota Goodbye is that rarest of things, a song which is both big and clever!
New wave music for a new age…now there’s a strap line. (If you use that just leave the money in the usual place guys!)
