Brilliant Colors - Again & Again

There’s been a lot of this stuff floating around - bittersweet, twee noise-pop with an inevitable ‘c-86 revivalist’ label getting chucked about as soon as the first strains of a few two-chord progressions jangle their way into consciousness.

Not that it’s any bad thing, of course. For all their apparent simplicity, bands like Brilliant Colors tend to have their influences firmly rooted and thoroughly referenced. An initial listen of ‘Again and Again’ evokes the ramshackle spirit of K-Records and the Tiger Trap, the garage rock of Vaselines, and lest we forget, the Black Tambourine roots of their Slumberland label.

Brilliant Colors are interesting in that they’ve strayed further into this territory, shedding the slightly frayed, punk edges which gave 2009’s ‘Introducing Brilliant Colors’ a bit of a growl in favour of dwelling more on that wistful, shoe gaze aesthetic. On some of the album’s tracks there’s a nice halfway point between the two - ‘Back to the Tricks’ combines that almost off-kilter vocal with pleasant riffs crashing and tearing their way through, ‘Telephone Stories’ slows down to give way to the bass leading into the song while some harmonies add depth to the earnest musings of singer Jess Scott’s lyrics.

However, names and references are easy to throw around and there have been a few other all-girl bands up to not entirely dissimilar tricks, The Dum Dum Girls and the Vivian Girls among them. ‘Again and Again’ is throwaway and fast - the record racks up ten tracks in less than half an hour. But what it lacks is standout songs needed to rescue the record from a mere sprawl of disposable pop and make it something more memorable and instantly likeable.

Brilliant Colors have made something undoubtedly cohesive which a nice listen, and that wears its heart on its sleeve. For all the talk of revivalism, they sound like a lost band from the 80’s as opposed to a mere throwback. It’s a pity that they seem to regress into the fuzz rather than drag something out of it, but ‘Again and Again’ is a pleasant record which stays rigorously true to its roots.