Allo Darlin’- Henry Rollins Don’t Dance/ The Polaroid Song
Henry Rollins may not dance, but I sure as hell have been dancing to these two short eps by UK based indiepop band Allo Darlin’ all day long. I found out about them the other night quite randomly on youtube, and I was simply awestruck by their blend of fun and silly yet earnest and sweet pop songs. I went and bought all the mp3s they had on itunes immediately.
It’s kind of hard for me to successfully describe what makes Allo Darlin’ so damn irresistible, but I’ll try. They make pop songs that are catchy, sweet, intelligent, quirky and just generally unique. Love songs that are also about Stephen Hawking, cooking, playing nintendo, polaroids, punk rock and much much more. The lyrics are really unique in that they are full of quirky pop culture references, yet contain a very sincere emotional resonance with absolutely no novelty value at all. This is seriously beautiful music that just so happens to be fun and kind of geeky. Musically I guess Allo Darlin’ fit pretty firmly into the indiepop/ twee side of things established by bands like Talulah Gosh and the whole Sarah Records scene, though the production is definitely way better, and with less of a punk vibe. The addition of a ukelele, brass and slide guitar is especially cool on some tracks.
But as cool as the music is, with all pop records it’s really the vocals that make or break a band, and in this case Allo Darlin’ excel. Elizabeth’s vocals are pretty much a perfect fit for the music, and there is never a weak moment on her part. She is by far one of the best pop vocalists I’ve heard in a long time. Her voice is just so warm and inviting, and the accent makes her all the more endearing.
All in all, Allo Darlin’ is an amazing band. I can’t do them justice. If you even remotely dig pop music, check them out. http://allodarlin.com/index.html