Album: Little Red – Listen to Little Red
By Luke McKenna • Jul 7th, 2008 • Section: Music, Reviews
Little Red
Listen to Little Red
Hooch Hound Records
Listen to Little Red is a delightful mix of punchy bass lines, catchy guitar and retro-stylish vocals – with an emphasis on the plural – which breathes fresh life into the cheery surf sounds of the Beach Boys, and the early upbeat bop of the Beatles.
Its 16 tracks clock in at a snappy 39 minutes, and it’s the most fun thirteen-twentieths of an hour to come out of Melbourne in quite a while. There’s a plethora of bubblegum pop (Coca Cola, Isabella, Fight Song), a few dreamy ballads (Fool, If You’re Lonely, Autumn Leaves), and Speedo borders on the lighter side of lusty funk. Some 50s diner rock is thrown in – Little Annie is kind of tune you’d expect to find tucked away in a groovy old jukebox. She’s Not the Only One edges towards the garage, and Jackie Cooper takes you back to the bleachers from Grease. It’s quite a journey.
The real strength of the album – and the band, more broadly – is the balanced vocal power of its four front-men. One will scale the tenor notes while another scours the baritones; everything’s backed-up; there’s ample voice variety, and each meshes neatly in harmony with its surrounds.
Better yet: it sounds real. The album, released on the band’s own label, was recorded on an indie budget and shuns the meticulous production bells and whistles preferred by others in the pop field. It’s stripped-back; lo-fi, in a cool way.
Listen to Little Red is a very solid offering that will have you doo-woppin’, clappin’ and tappin’ your feet along from beginning to end.
It’s bright, tastes like sarsaparilla, and feels like summer. Grab a copy.
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[...] the critical acclaim for its debut album, Listen to Little Red (read Laneway’s review here) and mass appeal is probably next. Melbourne BDO was not the band’s finest hour, but their [...]
[...] Song’, an oldie from the band’s debut album, Listen To Little Red, showed the crowd that they had made the right decision in coming along to the [...]
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