Reviews

Van She - Idea Of Happiness

Dizzyingly uplifting, as camp as a weekend at Butlins and effortlessly iridescent.

If Sydney’s Van She’s second album is an attempt to reflect the climate of their hometown, then the electropop foursome have outdone themselves. ‘Idea Of Happiness’ is a relentlessly, resolutely sunkissed cruise through a midsummer night’s dream of synth pop Utopia. It’s also a bit cringeworthy in places – but maybe that’s the point?

Van She are unquestionably an efficient, well-oiled synth machine. Nary a note, noise or nod to the 80s is out of place. Even the songtitles leave little room for manoeuvre – ‘You’re My Rescue’, ‘Calypso’, ‘Tears’. ‘Coconuts’ could be a Toto instrumental and the spectre of Wham! is never far from view – in fact, the entire album is positively drenched in Club Tropicana opulence. ‘Beat Of The Drum’ is a shameless Human League pastiche although is a little too smooth to match the cold heart of Sheffield’s finest.

The nature of ‘Idea Of Happiness’ ensures that all cynicism needs to be checked in order to enjoy even a smidgen of the album. If anything, the twelve cuts are primed to become wide-eyed club anthems, Tropicalia for the twenty-first century. And if Van She ‘feel Calypso’, who are we to judge them? This album is dizzyingly uplifting, as camp as a weekend at Butlins and effortlessly iridescent.

Tags: Album Reviews, Reviews, Van She

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