The Norwegian indie/power pop quartet Beezewax are into their fourth album and the first that seems like capturing a sizeable audience in the UK and beyond.
‘Who To Salute’ is a gently euphoric wash of jangly guitars and thin yet soaring vocals, for example their opener ‘Let The Future Be A Stranger’ which layers voice upon voice into a calming wash of sound that leads us into the second track and their latest single ‘When You Stood Up’.
I’ve said elsewhere in Crud that when they’re done well, clichés can be irresistible and ‘When You Stood Up’ is fizzing with predictable indie tricks spun out to perfection to create a lovers-against-the-world mini-anthem.
Beezewax have taken the guitar rhythm from Blurs ‘Coffee and TV’ and overlaid it with crashing drums, soaring choruses and pounding one-finger keyboard riffs. And it’s as unsubtle and gorgeous as shouting out ‘I love you!’.
And although definitely a high point, it’s also a fairly representative of the feel of the rest of the album. Paint ‘Til You Die’ for example contain echoes of The Shout Out Louds with its soft yet urgent drumming and verses that pogo politely to a chorus that is swept in on a surge of melodic guitar.
‘Shinjuko Park’ intersperses some stabbing brit pop with quieter trumpet threaded moments and ‘So Young Still’ sounds like The Postal Service unplugged.
All in All it could be a contender. Whether or not it becomes the sound de jour doesn’t matter. It’s a lovely wee album to see out the summer with.