The Sound of Arrows – “M.A.G.I.C”
Rewind to 1999. Back when the luminaries of early ’90s rock started to see their stars dim and aging Brit-poppers and shoegazers hustled for remixes and kept the Chemical Brothers on speed dial, hoping that an electronic beat might keep their old work fresh and vital. The culmination of all this seemed to come in the soundtrack to Gregg Araki’s 1999 movie Splendor — Moby remixing Blur, Kevin Shields refashioning Lush, Norman Cook writing one last meal check. Araki’s not known for being a particularly brilliant filmmaker, but his soundtracks are generally excellent and Splendor is no exception. While he couldn’t have known this at the time, that soundtrack captures the end of an era; an era probably deemed too ornate and fanciful for the stripped-down rock revival that was to dominate college radio two years later.
But pop music always eats itself, sometimes sooner than later. Here we are, only 10 years later, and I’m ringing in 2009 with “M.A.G.I.C.,” a bright and buoyant pop single from a relatively young band called the Sound of Arrows, who claim to hail from Pop Heaven, Sweden.* (Cute, I know, but it’s the kind of cute that’s hard not to find endearing.) Kind of like the band W.A.S.P., “M.A.G.I.C.” is an acronym without meaning, but when each letter is shouted out like a schoolyard chant over a groundswell of ascending disco orchestration it begins to take on an anthemic aura. The Sound of Arrows seem to be picking up where the artists in Splendor left off — but where the club-friendly beats and over-exuberant production values felt like crutches for graying pop stars at the end of their road in 1999, the Swedes here are playing with them like something altogether new and wonderful. Good night, London Suede. Good morning, Pop Heaven.
*Stockholm.
The Sound of Arrows – “Danger!” (Ice Cream Shout Version)
Hand claps and a toy piano; recorders and a ukulele. There’s a simple innocence to this version that I find irresistible, like rainbow sprinkles on a sundae. Stripped of the original version’s nu-New Order affectations, the lyrics read like a laundry list of parental admonishments — Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t join a fight. Watch out, at this hour stay out of sight. But from a child’s perspective, all these rules just sort of glaze over. These aren’t instructions; it’s an invitation. The world isn’t a scary place if you don’t know to be scared. (buy)
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The Sound of Arrows – M.A.G.I.C. and Danger!
The Sound of Arrows – “M.A.G.I.C”
Rewind to 1999. Back when the luminaries of early ’90s rock started to see their stars dim and aging Brit-poppers and shoegazers hustled for remixes and kept the Chemical Brothers on speed dial, hoping that an electronic beat might keep their old work fresh and vital. The culmination of all this seemed to come in the soundtrack to Gregg Araki’s 1999 movie Splendor — Moby remixing Blur, Kevin Shields refashioning Lush, Norman Cook writing one last meal check. Araki’s not known for being a particularly brilliant filmmaker, but his soundtracks are generally excellent and Splendor is no exception. While he couldn’t have known this at the time, that soundtrack captures the end of an era; an era probably deemed too ornate and fanciful for the stripped-down rock revival that was to dominate college radio two years later.
But pop music always eats itself, sometimes sooner than later. Here we are, only 10 years later, and I’m ringing in 2009 with “M.A.G.I.C.,” a bright and buoyant pop single from a relatively young band called the Sound of Arrows, who claim to hail from Pop Heaven, Sweden.* (Cute, I know, but it’s the kind of cute that’s hard not to find endearing.) Kind of like the band W.A.S.P., “M.A.G.I.C.” is an acronym without meaning, but when each letter is shouted out like a schoolyard chant over a groundswell of ascending disco orchestration it begins to take on an anthemic aura. The Sound of Arrows seem to be picking up where the artists in Splendor left off — but where the club-friendly beats and over-exuberant production values felt like crutches for graying pop stars at the end of their road in 1999, the Swedes here are playing with them like something altogether new and wonderful. Good night, London Suede. Good morning, Pop Heaven.
*Stockholm.
The Sound of Arrows – “Danger!” (Ice Cream Shout Version)
Hand claps and a toy piano; recorders and a ukulele. There’s a simple innocence to this version that I find irresistible, like rainbow sprinkles on a sundae. Stripped of the original version’s nu-New Order affectations, the lyrics read like a laundry list of parental admonishments — Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t join a fight. Watch out, at this hour stay out of sight. But from a child’s perspective, all these rules just sort of glaze over. These aren’t instructions; it’s an invitation. The world isn’t a scary place if you don’t know to be scared. (buy)