The Recommender

Here’s a band that have taken us on a bumpy ride in recent months. Last November Get People released their début double A-sided single, the Careless/Odyssey EP. It earned them plenty of coverage online with a multitude of useful blogs pointing their pages enthusiastically in their direction. It certainly got them under our virtual noses, but due to the light, fluffy nature of both tracks it actually turned out to be more a case of getting under our skin, so we held off from a bit of Recommender coverage until we’d seen more evidence of life beyond the buzz.

Although Careless had moments to enjoy, introducing us to their world of light electronic pop that fed on 80s synth cool, but ultimately it suffered from a lack of gravity. The vocals followed the breaks well and joined up to forge something bigger than the individual parts, but ultimately the singing just felt flat and forgetful. In fact they were at their best when they dropped the actual words and utilised their voices in a more instrumental fashion.

Things got worse with Odyssey, which felt like a wet version of Monarchy or Fenech Soler, were they re-written for a children’s television programme. This was the popcorn version of synth pop, too light and too saccharine with bits that irritatingly get stuck in your teeth. It felt like eating too many sweets whilst you waited for your meal, ruining your appetite before the main course was delivered. The whole release could have been better pitched as a double B-side.

It didn’t put off the music industry though, particularly in London, as the hipsters queued outside their shows. In fairness the production is tidy and the music feels intelligently designed, but there’s little for the likes of Beat Connection to be jealous of, as this is the musical equivalent of finding out the popular, sharp-witted, well-dressed charmer at your house party is in fact gay.

Our journey didn’t end there though because in the last few days the trio have been passing around their next EP, Rain Tears. It’s out on 11th July via Friends vs Records and delivers something altogether more attractive. The synthetic bubbles remain, but the tunes have now emerged with a set of serious foundations, feeling more mature at every turn. Instead of a camp version of Fenech Soler, they’ve found their angle – to be more humoured, like Metronomy. It’s like they’ve ditched the annoying weaknesses and kept their strengths. The videos to both tracks are also pretty fucking rad too.

They slow it down on the other side with the track Away, and it’s with this that we believe they’ve struck the gold they were looking for, but seeing as it’s located on the back seat it would appear that it’s not the direction they want to point in. It sounds somewhere between Tears For Fears and Freedom Or Death, with the vocals once again proving the highlight. The track regularly breaks into shards of guitar and the clapped beat provides a groove that serves to warm it up far more than their previous tracks that always suffered from being a little cold.

You can catch them live at a handful of festivals this summer, including the Isle Of Wight (11th June), Farr Festival (30th July), both V Festivals (19th/20th August) and they’ll appear in the US at Burning Man (29th August). This kind of music expands when heard live, as the atmospherics and combined vocals will have more impact face to face, but more importantly this is a band that’s clearly developing well, so if the improvements continue then the summer may yet be theirs for the taking. (MB)

GET PEOPLE – AWAY

GET PEOPLE – CARELESS