The first tune that wafted past our ears from this Swedish duo was It Takes Long, which initially threw up sounds that only pushed buttons can generate, launching with a tweak here and a bleep there, laid over a rather dull rush of tapped cymbals. It sounds like it was made in the bedroom, but not in that kind of authentic, creative way that charms with it’s basic feel, but more the kind of empty, rather casual, unprofessional way that lacks true quality. There can’t be more than two people in this band, right? One to hit some buttons, one to sing? OK, well that last line might be accurate, but as their songs get flowing, particularly when the vocals are utilised, they begin to uncover their sophistication and any initial negative impressions you had are rapidly washed away. This is arpeggiated, melancholic pop, following a similar path wearily trodden by the elegant HURTS, but this is a diced up, minimal version and it’s delicacy is all the more crisp and glassy for it. Once you get to the more recent track, Drunk As Two Punks, their speedy maturity is shown to have leapt like a teen on hormone treatments. Sweeping drifts of misty samples layer up like sediment, over lyrics that describe the underdog, always using the vocals to broaden it, as the song flips and breaks between racing melodies. The tracks often build to a plump roundedness, produced with the kind of (bedroom-) wall of sound that The Big Pink achieved so well. They are a group born out of the Stockholm duo, Swedish Shoes, who used to play with a similar tone, but with the power very much cut off. Quite literally an unplugged version of Pink Nights. With the electrics now fizzing they attempt the kind of shimmering, moody pop that, at it’s best, reaches deep into your emotional core. It’s a genre that peaked back in the early 80s, with classics such as Love Will Tear Us Apart, or Here Comes The Rain Again. It’s no bad thing if this style of structured pop, with it’s intelligent architects behind it, is seemingly on the rise again. Pink Nights still have a seriously long path to walk, once the bedroom door is opened, to reach this genre’s historical heights, but with their latest reincarnation there are serious signs of hope among the cloudy moods. (MB)
Find them here: Myspace
Hear them here: PINK NIGHTS – IT TAKES LONG
Hear them here: PINK NIGHTS – DRUNK AS TWO PUNKS
