I was wondering what happened to all the indie pop that was about some ten or so years ago. OK, I wasn’t actually wondering about anything like that but, when you least expect it, some indie pop will sneak up and show you that an ill-fitting sweater and some lo-fi intentions can be as satisfying as a caramel latté from Starbucks. Anyway, with multinational caffeine meandering temporarily out of the way, on to the “The Circular Breathing EP” by Plastic Bubble.
Plastic Bubble purvey a rather more muscular version of indie pop than I remember from back in the day of 3 inch compact discs with those guitars getting turned up and fuzzed up just like the band had looked back and drawn deep on the crack pipe of thoroughly theatrical sixties pop. The lo-fi presentation is still present and correct but there is also an added focus that just might get these five songs across the road to the cool kids. That would be the cool kids that can spell, of course, as these songs are of the kind that seem initially trivial when they are actually very nicely constructed pop songs that are delivered in the kind of fuzzy, but ultimately intoxicating, style that is almost guaranteed to move them quickly on to the playlist of the discerning.
Let’s face it. Plastic Bubble are a lot more satisfying than a caramel latté from Starbucks. Then again, most things in this world are.
Physical copies of the EP are available from Bandcamp.