Sheffield, England quintet The Long Blondes came on all fast and enticing last time with their much-loved LP from 2006, Someone To Drive You Home (Rough Trade), which was chocked full of advice for women, a little admonishment for men, and hooks for everyone. If you can think of three better bands than Pulp, Blondie, and New Order to combine, you let me know. Actually, let The LBs know; it was their idea.
With their new record Couples (TMT Review), the deck is now slightly reshuffled. They now play the part of the cool cucumbers (particularly singer/audience focal point Kate Jackson), who possible suitors shouldn't even try to pin down, a whirlwind that might include you one minute and not the next. One element that definitely is included in these possibly autobiographical songs is the synthesizer, which vies with the guitar for attention on Couples.
To find out if the band can walk the effortlessly cool walk in person, let me direct you to their North American tour, which will be comin' atcha about a week after that hot platter drops (Warning: if the way you talk resembles that last sentence, you are nether effortless nor cool, just so you know. Do you hear me, Gary?). You can brave the throngs of style-mavens and admirers when the tour starts May 14 in Philly, with support from two-piece twang-rock cuties Drug Rug.
Tourdates:
* Drug Rug
