MP3: The Radio Dept. - David
As regular readers should know by now, I'm no fan of The Radio Dept. Their tepid shoegaze leaves nary an impression on me and, even at their supposed angriest ("Freddy and the Trojan Horse"), they're still not much more than musical wallpaper. But I acknowledge that I am probably in the minority, so before I head off to the dentist this morning, I'll let contributor Arnulf Köhncke talk up the new single "David":
After such a long time waiting, it feels strange when something comes around that's this unexpected and yet so painfully obvious. But when the four-beat piano chords set in after the first line, it all falls into place. All that soul, the swaying chord changes, the secret-agent movie strings, the glockenspiels and melodicas. Even that hip-hop interlude and the 60's pop ending. No more Prefab Sprout'ness for now, no more distorted keyboards, no more analogue drums -- just those trademark vocals singing about longing and love, despair and hope.
The Radio Dept. - David