The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love

With ‘Velvet’, we have a real contender for S.O.T.Y. ‘09 (that’s Single Of The Year 2009) on our hands. Released back in April of this year, the track had an effect on the ears, not too dissimilar to Swine Flu’s effect on our paranoia. Wow. What A Track. Emotive, dramatic, with an intense urgency about it, the song grew to be an obsession for all those fortunate enough to hear it. However, the following single, ‘Dominos’, was a step down from its predecessor. So as the first promos of the Big Pink’s debut, ‘A Brief History Of Love’, began to appear, the question on everyone’s lips could only be: ‘Velvet’ or ‘Dominos’?

After several listens, in an attempt to understand, there can only be one deduction: ‘Velvet’ was a one off, super special moment of genius. So the fact that the synth loving duo placed it slap bang in the middle of their eleven-track opus makes perfect sense. Like a sort of wonky tent, propped up by the strongest pole.

The songs seem to blend and fade into one another, in a turbulent mess of drummed beats and bizarre bleeps. All the while, singer Robbie Furze’s distinguishable voice wails over the top, in a northern drawl reminiscent of Ian Brown, had the Stone Roses been more Pet Shop Boys than, well, Stone Roses. The magic hypnotism of ‘Velvet’ seems out of place, wedged between MBV-esque ‘At War With The Sun’ and the TVOTR-style ‘Golden Pendulum’.

That isn’t to say that the whole record is completely lacking in charm. Whilst on one hand being quite grating, Furze’s voice, particularly on ‘Love In Vain’, echoes a sort of strangled pain. Touching, really. Added to machine maestro Milo Cordell’s fiddling, it does work, but feels disconnected. With the release of ‘Velvet’ now long gone, and nothing but their underachieving debut to show for it, all that can be said is that they peaked to soon. The tent won’t hold forever. The pole will.