Beverly – Careers
You know what they say about things that come in small packages, right? Well, Beverly is fuzzy dream-pop specialist Frankie Rose and her friend Drew Citron and their 10 tracks in 30 breezy minutes are all perfectly formed. Citron has previously been part of Rose’s touring band, but, in the main, she takes the lead here … not that you’ll really notice as the pair’s sighing girl-group harmonies and dreamy melodies are all so familiar. There’s something achingly wistful about the band name and artwork too, and it all carries through to the tracks themselves, the nostalgic “Honey Do” sunning itself to the sounds of C86 before stepping on the pedals for a rousing chorus. Bringing to mind Rose’s lovely Interstellar LP, shadowy synth simmer and an 80s guitar jangle away during the heavy-hearted “Hong Kong Hotel”. And, in turn, the strikingly stripped-back “Yale’s Life” is given an iconic dose of atmosphere via a Lynchian bassline and mid-distance drum echo.
Citron and Rose use understated pop cleverly though. To them it’s just smoke and mirrors so that they can usher in genuine passages of rock under the radar. The sweet surf-punk riff that ripples through the September Girls-like “You Can’t Get It Right” is just right and the cool “Out On A Ride”, despite probably owing Dee Dee of Dum Dum Girls a few royalties, is further evidence of the girls’ smuggling prowess. Most surprising of all though is the great “Ambular”, which starts life like Fleetwood Mac in rock mode before contorting into a fuzzy instrumental psyche rumbler that takes Rose close to where she began when backed by The Outs. It’s a track that’s ultimately the exception rather than the rule, however, so the argument that this corner of the market is now overly saturated still holds water. It’d be churlish all the same to deny one of its shining lights another spin on that basis as, with rocking tracks like the toothsome “Planet Birthday”, every day is genuinely something to celebrate with Beverly.
Best tracks: “You Can’t Get It Right” and “Out On A Ride”
~Careers is released June 30th 2014 on Kanine.~