Pop music has not had the best of times lately. Harmony and melody have too often been replaced with tawdry tales of teenage debauchery. Your aged auntie will often comment on whether it is really necessary for your average teen godess to go without pants whenever she goes out of an evening. What the world needs now is a bit of no nonensense clean living pop music and that is what Beware Fashionable Women provide.
Their self titled album is ten tracks of pop fun that will surely find a welcome on your car stereo. It might well be a familiar sound to pop pickers everywhere but it is undoubtedly easy on the ear. You get a touch of latin ryhthms on "Obligatory Tatoo" before the song takes off into Califirnain harmonies and that is an appealing combination. "Found" is so embarassingly radio firendly that it verges on pastiche while there is a bit of demented punk meets blues angst on show to flavour "The Great Corrupter (of Youth)". Worringyly, the last track on the album "The Big Yellow" took a sudden left turn and headed of into a somewhat surreal place where Beach Boys harmonies meet showtunes.
There were these monents during this album when it has to be said that you got the feeling that it was all some sort fo parody of Weezer. Then again, Weezer were usually pariodies of themselves. This album is, however, a nice selection of what might best be described as classic pop music. It's got harmonies that your mother can sing and a good bit of warmth in the performance but it just lacks a bit of fire in its belly. Even so, it is a mile better than what the major record companies regard as pop music these days.
Available from CD Baby.