The Concretes
In Colour
Release Date: Apr 4, 2006
Genre(s): Indie, Pop
Record label: Astralwerks
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Album Review: In Colour by The Concretes
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
With the Concretes always finding new ways to explore and expand their irresistible pop, In Colour finds the Swedish collective making another sonic jump, just as they did between their first album and their early EPs. Granted, this album isn't nearly as big a step forward as The Concretes was from the Boy, You Better Run Now era; actually, with its simpler production and unhurried songs, it could be seen as a step to the side for a bit of fresh air. The mix of chugging guitars and brass on "Fiction" and "Chosen One" is the closest In Colour comes to the Velvet Undergound/Motown mash-up of The Concretes, but the rest of the album finds a happy medium between the lushness of the first album and the sweet sketches of the band's earlier work, and throws in touches of folk, country, and pop of all kinds for good measure.
Opinion: Excellent
The Concretes have always been an eerie proposition. While there are obvious reference points for their music - third album Velvet Underground, The Pastels, Mazzy Star - the Swedish eight-piece never quite fit; their songs are mysterious even at their most pop, full of breaths of frosty air, shadowed by ghost apparitions hazing the viewfinder. Their self-titled first album from 2004 was prematurely aged, as if the master tapes were found in Maureen Tucker’s closet, coated in 1968 dust from Hollywood’s TTG Studios.