The Big Pink - Velvet

Just how The Big Pink manage to sound like they’re melting from the inside out is something to marvel at based on this, their latest single. Unleashed after the trippy first kiss of ‘Too Young To Love’, ‘Velvet’ sees them aim ever skywards. With electronics that sound like wiring imploding, the vocal replays on the disillusionary qualities of love – retrospective and future focussing in equal measure.

Their indebtedness to The Jesus and Mary Chain has been well documented, but for ‘Velvet’ the central shredding of guitars filters from the middle 8 outwards. “These arms are mine/don’t mind who they hold” acts as a pivot point for them stepping up a gear, and at approximately two-thirds of the way into the track it’s a tactic not dissimilar to the ‘golden section’ adopted by French classicists.

But lest we get too pretentious on their behalf, ‘Velvet’ is more of the pop passion that needs to be added to a rather murky sound. Aligning with the brain-searing harmonies of The Pixies, the Telepathe sporadic drum machine and videos obsessing over the human form, they could be doing a hell of a lot worse in picking their opponents and counterparts.

Take for example the flip-side, ‘Introduction to Awareness’, with its bastardising of the bassline of one of the most sunshine-pop records ever: ‘My Girl’ by The Temptations. As opposed to it’s original all-embracing Motown, ‘Introduction…’ staggers with the weight of disowning a lover and a weedling organ canon. Just the right side of drug addling noise, this fares as a cautionary tale for those wishing to enter into their wicked, trance-like web where Robbie Furze’s voice swells and drones to what feels like the size of any vicinity.

While The Big Pink seem to be affirming their place in the shoegaze boots of the major league, they’re clever enough to be dosing it with filthy aural sexiness and a hint of the sublime. The beats alone are slick enough to have producers, nation-wide, pontificating their self-production skills.