Alpine "A Is For Alpine"

 

Discovered this Australian band while researching The Jezabels a year ago.  Alpine was a new band riding a well-received EP and got to open a couple of their shows.  When I pulled up a video, the band reminded me of Berlin in a way.  Good enough to put on my watch list.  I purchased this debut full-length as an import a couple of months ago.  It released last summer and must have done well.  They were nominated for "Breakthrough Artist" in last year's Aussie Grammys (ARIA) and received a couple of Australian Album of the Year declarations.  However, the sound of "A..." wasn't exactly what I expected based on the early video I saw.  The one below was the first single from "A..."



Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know you don't expect me to post videos with a million+ views, but this is the one truly outstanding track on the entire album.  The crunchy guitars that sparked the Berlin comparison?  Non-existent.  Terms I've seen used to describe "A..." include "sparkly," "iridescent," "giddy."  My initial thought was a space-age B-52's, the kind of band that would play Judy Jetson's prom.  It took a while for the perfect comparative artist to seep from the depths of the musical sludge in my brain...Stacey Q...

...which is not a bad thing.  But for this now 55-year-old, "A..." is just a little too lightweight for me.  If you are in my age bracket and have friends who dig Abba, throw this on in the background and you will please most of them.  I predict this will do well in the 16-25 age demo when it comes out here in America in a few weeks.  They've already played SXSW and showcase dates in NY and LA this year and will return for a dozen more in early June following the record's release.  I'm wishing them the best...