slumberland records

The Needle Drop

There must be something in the water over at Slumberland Records. It seems each band at the label has something fun and special to offer, and that’s definitely true for Glasgow’s Bricolage. Their self-titled debut is an indie pop romp that sounds like the younger sibling of Franz Ferdinand and the cousin to a heavier, male-fronted Camera Obscura; who grew up occasionally listening to the Beach Boys.

With distinct, memorable singing, hooky rhythms, and some surprising instruments (steel drums!), theses guys know how to create fun pop songs. Musicians can sometimes have trouble trying to capture "happy" in a song, but Bricolage has it down pretty well. That's not to say that every song on their debut LP is all sunshine and fun--as evident in "Plots are for Cemeteries," with its slower rhythm and doo-wop-style background harmonies. "A Terrible Souvenir," with its "Be My Baby"-style introduction, ethereal organs, and chime-tinted chorus gives the album a little more substance to augment the happier tunes. "On the Omnibuses" is one of the album's highlights, with soaring vocals, and epic-like quality. The album closes with the previously released single, "The Waltzers," and you’re left wanting more.

This is a sunny-day-driving-in-the-car-with-the-windows-down type of album. It's good to hear a band acting like a band, and it's evident that everyone involved is on the same page. Bricolage has a certain charm about that is inescapable, and ensures repeated listens to their debut LP. The whole band knows what they want, and they work together to achieve it. When musicians like what they’re doing, it shows through their music, and Bricolage seems to love every minute of it.

- Doug Liggins

We Heart Music

"When we go walking outside," Graham Wann of Bricolage moans on the second track of their eponymous album, "I find it hard to decide which car to jump in front of." Ah, the joys of suicide-inducing romance. When mixed with catchy hooks and infectious melodies, it's a theme that rarely gets old, as Jens Lekman, Moz, and Stephin Merritt have long demonstrated. Often maudlin and usually hilarious, Bricolage is a sterling reminder of why heartbroken saps make the best pop records.

On their debut album, they keep the tunes light and the subject matter amusingly heavy. It's hardly a new concept, but Bricolage seems to be scholars in the art of the miserable pop song. It's no easy feat passing off a song about bleeding ears as both an ode to dejection and a kicky dance gem, but Bricolage pull it off with an endless amount of sunny harmonies, handclaps, and sing-along choruses.

This contrast works especially well on a song like "Footsteps," an upbeat track about paranoia, and (of course) rejection. Amid upbeat chanting and tropical percussion, Wann wails, "The more you reach out to grab her, the more the dream disintegrates" just as the song swirls into a breezy guitar solo. It's the kind of melodramatic musing that can only be tolerable with a good sense of humor and beautifully intricate instrumentation. Luckily, these guys seem ready to tackle anything their neuroses throw their way.

Bricolage's sound is oddly familiar, and the comparisons come easily: Pelle Carlberg and Ballboy's wordy lyrics, the Beach Boys and early Weezer's harmonies, and Jonathan Richman's less-than-stellar luck with the ladies. At times, this can be distracting, especially on by-the-book sadsack songs like "Plots are for Cemeteries" and "Sleepwalk to Me" where technically, everything is perfect, but some distinction would be nice.

However, such criticism never lasts long, as almost every track on the album is infused with their self-deprecating humor. My favorite track, "On the Omnibuses," is one synthesizer short of a cheesy soft rock hit, but as Wann repeatedly croons, "Tell me I'm the only one," that extra touch of self-awareness only makes his desperation even more enjoyable. It's a trick used throughout the album and a testament to the fact that putting a guitar in the hand of a lovesick fool is bound to produce favorable results. Especially if said fool is from Glasgow and happens to be oozing with charm.

- Kate G

Treble

When Glasgow-based popsters Bricolage released their debut single "Footsteps" in 2006, they got it just right on the first try. Recalling legendary countrymen such as Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, Bricolage crafted one of the finest Scot-pop singles to have been released in a good while. Its clean and crisp guitars were post-punk gold. Its slightly disco-leaning beat lent it a danceable sensibility. And that extra touch of steel drum made the song prime for heavy summertime rotation. The only problem would be to follow it up.

Thankfully, that wasn't a problem at all. Three years after the release of that magnificent debut single, Bricolage have assembled 12 ultra-fun tracks on their debut, self-titled album, produced by former Altered Images guitars Stephen Lironi, no less. Not all of them reach the heights of “Footsteps,” and quite frankly, it remains the album's highest peak. That said, the group comes awfully close on several occasions, and even when they don't, they're still playing top-notch jangle pop with sublime melodies and hooks that stick around for days.

The energy runs high throughout this 35-minute set, launching out of the gates with the giddy leadoff track "Bayonets," part Teenage Fanclub and part Supergrass. Vocalists Graham Wann and Wallace Meek harmonize carefree lines like "life is a cabaret," and the song's dramatic piano flourishes back up the sentiment nicely. "Flowers of Deceit" is a bit funkier, but still maintaining that crisp and sparkling guitar tone that prevails throughout. Yet the song achieves a greater sense of excitement during the agitated tremolo breaks during the chorus. Swooning ballad "Plots Are For Cemeteries" has a touch of The Smiths in its romantic melody, and "Looting Takes the Waiting Out of Wanting" turns petty theft into a handclapping, harmonized celebration.

The organ-fueled post-punk soul of "A Terrible Souvenir" is bolstered by a bold and brassy horn section, while "Turn U Over," also an earlier single, presents two minutes and 23 seconds of the album's most impeccable hooks and harmonies. In fact, were I not already briefed, I might have guessed it an obscure Postcard single from the mid-80s. In a surprising turn of events, Bricolage turns up the fuzz on "6th Form Poet," yet somehow maintains their charming, pristine pop sound, not a bit grungier for the wear. Closing out the album is "The Waltzers," a Northern Soul-influenced track with a sinister bassline backing up its otherwise cheery exterior. That there's such a heavy stomp at the back end of the album ensures that it ends with a little extra oomph, and a great track to boot.

On their first full-length outing, Bricolage take some heavy cues from their Scot-pop predecessors, and who can blame them, really? The shades of Orange Juice and Teenage Fanclub are merely part of the picture, however, and on these 12 songs, Bricolage put their own impeccably arranged spin on jangle pop, with every vocal harmony, tightly wound bassline, handclap and dancefloor-ready beat in its place. Holding true to the promise of their incredible debut single, the band has offered up one awfully impressive first album.

- Jeff Terich

East Village Radio

The debut album by Glasgow's Bricolage has been kicking around on Slumberland's release schedule for months. (In fact, it's been available through some download services since last fall!) Often that means either the album is a dog or the label simply has no idea how to market it, but it turns out that Slumberland were quite clever to hold off on releasing this album until May, because it’s quickly become a front-runner for the ideal summertime indiepop album of 2009. Produced by Stephen Lironi, whose early '80s band Altered Images were the poster children for sparkling, summery pop, Bricolage is chockablock with energetic, intelligent, guitar-based tunes given richly detailed, crafty arrangements that acknowledge historical influences without sounding slavishly retro. For example, there's the ragged, Surf's Up-era Beach Boys-influenced harmonies near the end of "Plots Are For Cemeteries," the Kinks-like backing vocals on the verses of "Sleepwalk To Me," the familiar drum pattern that opens "A Terrible Souvenir" (which the band are likely copping from the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey," much like their fellow Scots swiped it from the Ronettes' "Be My Baby"), the sly glam-rock tributes that decorate "The Waltzers," and the clear homage to the founding father of Glasgow twee pop, Orange Juice's Edwyn Collins, in the vocals on "Turn U Over." Just as their band name implies, Bricolage are all about finding new contexts for familiar sounds, and they succeed admirably in how they put all the pieces together. Too many bands forget to do anything new with the favorite old sounds they recreate, but Bricolage is more of the moment than stuck in the past.

- Stewart Mason

Allmusic.com

ricolage 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. Why, then, does this blatant idolatry not completely wreck -- or even harm -- the band's self-titled debut, especially when the songs that don't sound like OJ end up aping fellow post-punk heroes Vic Godard and the Subway Sect? Two important things save the day for Bricolage. The first and most vital is the songwriting. Simply put, the band has whipped up a cracking batch of tunes here, "Footsteps" being the top of the pops but "Turn U Over," "Flowers of Deceit," and "The Waltzers" coming in dead close. They have huge hooks and singalong choruses, and sound like the kind of songs most bands would kill to write just one of in their lifetimes. Bricolage have an album full of them. Second, they add a few twists to the Chic-meets-Velvet Underground formula that Edwyn Collins and James Kirk set in place for OJ, whether it's the Motown backbeat of "Looting Takes the Waiting Out of Wanting," the Spector-meets-Strokes sound of "A Terrible Souvenir," or the warm, Beach Boys-style backing vocals that pop up now and then. And something else that makes the album worth owning and the band worth following is the simple fact that Orange Juice were a great band who came and went too fast, so borrowing their sound is much more forgivable than a band copping from a mega-band like the Beatles or Oasis. They will need to move on eventually, but for now Bricolage are just fine doing what they are doing, and their debut delivers on the promise of their early singles and then some. Edwyn (and Vic and James) should be proud.

- Tim Sendra

Dagger

…and the revitilazation of the Slumberland label continues with this Glasgow 4-some who do the city damn proud. I’ll bet even an old codger like Alan Horne would approve as this bunch. And speaking of old Glaswegians, they got none other than Altered Images guitarist Stephen Lironi to produce and not sure what he fed these guys in the studio but the songs crackle and pop and the band’s tunes fit in nicely between those of the old school (Aztec Camera, Orange Juice, etc) and the newer/recent breed of movers and shakers (Franz Ferdinand, Libertines, etc.). “Bayonets” opens things nicely with a distant drum, then a strum of guitar, a rumble of a bass and finally those yearning vocals and the cut is a winner. Speaking of Mr. Horse, “Footsteps” sounds like a single he might have released back in yee olde early 80’s as it has an extra little bounce to its step. “A Terrible Souvenir” has that classic “Be My Baby” opening drumbeat then kicks into a classic pop tune with chugging guitars, obedient rhythms and some well-placed horns. All 12 of these songs are worth your time and these guys look young enough to have quite a promising career in front of them.

- Tim Hinely