Stand Atlantic — Pink Elephant (8/7/20)
This Australian pop-rock group caught my ear with their single “Skinny Dipping” after they signed to Hopeless Records in the Fall of 2018. It might have just been last year that I actually caught onto them, and I never did get around to the accompanying debut album.
I’m diving in now with their sophomore and it takes one look at the colourful artwork to tell that it’s going to a polished pop-rock listen. And that’s pretty much the way I like it with my pop-rock. I like clean melodies, smooth and crisp instrumentation, but also emotional grit, and they do a pretty good job of encompassing those qualities.
It’s those qualities that make this an easily enjoyable listen. The thing is, at least for my late-twenties self, it’s rare that this easy pop-rock sound will give me a song that actually surprises me. Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it, but it’s the songs that surprise me that keep me coming back, and there’s little surprise to be found here.
It’s still my sound though and there’s plenty to have fun with. Closing track “Hate Me (Sometimes)” was released as a single all the way back in September of last year. If you can’t vibe with the song’s driven anthemic hook and the teenage pop-rock angst than you’re best to stop there because it’s what you’re going to get with the rest of the album.
Lead singer Bonnie Fraser has a powerful shout that stands up well to the crunching guitar. She shows a real bite to her delivery in the heavy-handed hook of “Shh!,” and if you’re into their heavier side, the synth-strong “Wavelength” is sure to please.
Opener “Like That” is a great choice to kick off the album. You get more of the upbeat, peppy style of their sound with a hook that shows how hard they’re willing to go to push the melody in your face. Similarily, “Eviligo,” “DWYW,” and “Jurassic Park” are the friendlier and bright pop-rock cuts of the album.
On the other side of the coin, “Drink To Drown” is the album’s slow song, a piano-orchestral piece that has Fraser singing about the weighty subject of drinking to cope with pain. A nice and touching performance that I’d say cuts a bit deeper lyrically than melodically.
“Silk & Satin” is another slow one that stands apart from the rest due to its 808 beat. Aside from the ethereal guitar, the song is led by an electronic beat and you get this kind of chill-pop sound. It’s ultimately a completely disappointing song that has me moving onto the next immediately.
And that next one’s not much better. The penultimate “Soap” fits in with the other upbeat tracks but it feels like it's squeezed in at the second to last spot as the song that’s just not as good as the ones before. It’s really not terrible, but it’s a great example of how unsurprising some of these songs are.
There is one song on here that does manage to surprise me though, and that is “Blurry.” There’s a darker pull to the song than the rest, and its big selling point is this amazing synth-key note that pulses throughout the song and creates an absolutely dazzling effect in the hook.
So, a pretty solid album to kick off my first full experience with Stand Atlantic. They’re introducing more music to a genre that makes up a big chunk of my music library so I expected it would take something quite special to stand out for me. And while most of this will become lost within that library, I’ll be keeping “Blurry” close and I expect to see it make an appearance on my top 100 of the year.
