Bricolage
Bricolage
Release Date: May 12, 2009
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Pop
Record label: Slumberland
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Album Review: Bricolage by Bricolage
Acceptable, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Bricolage sound a whole lot like Orange Juice. You just can't escape it. It's in the arch lilt of the vocals, the angular jangle of the guitars, the skipping dance-punk beats, and the clever wordplay of the lyrics. A song like "Footsteps" could be slotted into a collection of Postcard-era OJ and very few people would bat an eye.
Based on rating 3/5
Bricolage are a Glaswegian group that take us back to the misty British days of the early 1980s, where the soft-hearted charms of Orange Juice and Vic Godard subtly shaped indie. And this is their debut album, where nostalgic lyrics, handclaps and hazy guitars haunt its every corner. Bayonets tells of the optimism of youth; Plots Are for Cemeteries calls upon the romance of rock'n'roll balladry and Footsteps sounds like the lost classic Aztec Camera never gave us.
Based on rating 5/10
Some stories are over before they begin. Such is the case with Bricolage and its eponymous American debut on Slumberland. Given that the UK label Creeping Bent already released this album earlier this year it already feels redundant, especially since the band has already broken up. In press materials and on record, the band desperately wants to associate its music with the golden, Postcard-era Glasgow of the early 1980s.
Based on rating 3/10
Bricolage does not want to listen to your whining. Come to them with tales of girl or boy trouble and prepare to be met with unsympathetic eyes, shrugs, and various versions of the phrases “So what?” and “I told you so.” Often, there’s something refreshingly blunt about them, and it’s a departure from the nice-guy post-punk to which we’ve grown accustomed. That’s the attitude.
Opinion: Fairly Good
Upbeat pop music that easily transitions from a sunny park afternoon to a sweaty evening dance floor seems to be in high demand nowadays, and Glasgow is definitely the go-to place for it. Bricolage brings that city’s signature sounds in a pretty big way, choosing not to mess with a good thing. Better to mash all the good stuff up and figure the sum will be much greater than the parts.