The Big Pink - Future This

The Big Pink’s ongoing battle to reclaim pop can’t be said to be a winning one. With first single ‘Stay Gold’ failing to chart it could be said The Big Pink’s rather short-lived commercial heyday has come to an end. However, an album’s pedigree is not judged by chart positions so onwards and upwards we go. With a name coined from an 80s skateboard company’s slogan, ‘Future This’ is a continuation of The Big Pink’s uphill odd-pop crusade.

Opening with circuit-bent keyboards and wall-of-sound guitars, first taster ‘Stay Gold’ is a confident announcement of The Big Pink’s return, the closest you’ll find here the duo’s past glories. Future This doesn’t have a ‘Dominoes’, but regardless it still has some beautiful moments, whether it be the elastic RnB of ‘Give It Up’ or the twisted chorus of ‘Lose Your Mind’.

A somewhat incoherent follow up, it’s hard to tell where ‘Future This’ is going at points. The Big Pink are forever jumping between sub genres and structures, the leap from the increasing tension of ‘Lose Your Mind’ to the subdued neo-balladry of ‘Future This’ is difficult, but then The Big Pink have never been particularly easy to comprehend.

While this album may not receive the same level of mainstream attention of its predecessor, it shows a strong commitment to The Big Pink’s vision of future-pop music. ‘Future This’ is not an album to be taken lightly, probably one of the densest albums to grace DIY’s hard disc for a while; maybe not an album for a brisk walk home. Perhaps you could pop it on to some heavy lifting, or to soundtrack some intense arm wrestling eye contact. Hell, I don’t care, just enjoy it as it is; a thick as muck yet intelligent pop album.