“Spotlight”
from the album Another Life
2006
iTunes
MP3 – “Spotlight” [right-click/save-as]
Because there’s a consistent and sizeable fanbase for indie pop, bands like Boyskout will always be with us. When you add in the fact that Boyskout consists only of women, you’ve reached a narrower but more obsessive potential audience.
The guitar playing on Another Life has its immediate precedent in Casual Dots. There are lots of single-note pickings and repetitions to keep things spare and melodic. As is often the case with indie-pop bands, the drums and bass focus more on keeping time than on making things interesting by branching out in any meaningful way. That said, on “Fantastic” and some other songs the bass does add some melodic flourishes and the drums (while pretty simple) rise and fall with the moods explored. “Fantastic” has an Elastica sound to it, which is another way of saying that it has learned a thing or two from the old Wire records.
Compared to the Chairs Missing-like tunes, the pretty and straight-up pop numbers like “Everybody Knew” feel like they came from label Cherry Red’s singles collection. When the choruses get catchy, they get really catchy, as on “Blind Eye” and “Spotlight.“ One downside to the music is that the vocals seem a little too affected. The singing on “You’re Not Around” not only sounds excessively breathy but also a little faux-British.
If undemanding girl-band pop is your thing, you’ll probably enjoy Another Life. While it doesn’t add anything especially new to the genre, it does give the formulas a good workout. And generally that’s why you pick up a disc like this anyway.