Chairlift - Does You Inspire You

Albums

Chairlift are the Williamsburg trio whose catchy, yearning "Bruises" backs TV commercials for the new iPod Nano. They've been anointed by Apple as the Next Big Indie Thing or, depending how you hear it, instant sellouts. They've

toured with MGMT and Yeasayer. Their origin story – artsy college kids wanting to make music for haunted houses – strikes just the right balance between insufferable and awesome.

Music snobs worth their 7"s should be ready to dismiss the band based on this surface exposure. But dig into Chairlift’s debut disc and you'll hear something more than a sort-of OK first album propped up on the strength of one breakout hit and a lot of hype.

Yes, that's pretty much Does You Inspire You – a stylistically uncertain collection of murky, synth-fogged, too-slow songs bolstered by a few strong tracks. But something about the way Chairlift's music hints at melancholy Americana one moment and icy avant-pop the next is encouraging rather than discouraging. Take the atmospherically spot-on opener "Garbage" and the creepy warning delivered by singer Caroline Polachek – whose voice is as much Chairlift's signature as their spongy, electrified soundscapes – that "all your garbage will outlive you one day," or the Jekyll-and-Hyde shifts of "Make Your Mind Up," the closest Does You Inspire You gets to bombast. "Planet Health"'s whimsical, space-age take on well-being is imagined against a strikingly beautiful atmosphere of reverb-heavy snare and twinkling synthesized chimes; its chorus, "I am feeling great now," is disarming and unexpectedly moving. If they discard their more gimmicky experiments (the twang on "Don't Give a Damn") and concentrate on what they've done best (like the futuristic, emotionally raw tone of "Make Your Mind Up"), their next disc could be a genuinely great piece of art.

Label:  Kanine Records
Release Date: 4-17-2009

-Alexandra Jones

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