Spain's The Yellow Melodies are some of the finest purveyors of a modern take on classic indie one is likely to find active in 2017. The band's new album, the fine Life, is out now on TheBeautifulMusic.com. Unashamedly tuneful, it is a whole lot of fun for devotees of this genre.
If the title cut sounds like stuff from Television Personalities and their peers, that makes some sort of sense, given the band's appearances on TVP tributes from TheBeautifulMusic.com, as well as their own TVP tribute EP, but a pleasant surprise is how much a tune like "Flying Together" echoed even earlier pioneers like The Left Banke. The bright-and-buoyant "Come and See", and the more rollicking "Don't Think Twice" confirm that The Yellow Melodies are certainly capable of making fresh, modern jangle-pop, even as an astute listener appreciates the considerable nods to past artists peppered throughout this set. Elsewhere, "Our Time is Over" recalls The Housemartins a bit, while the more languid "The Urban Cyclist" suggests a debt owed to early Saint Etienne or Ivy. Still, for all my talk of those other bands, it's worth repeating how fresh lots of this feels. The Yellow Melodies are adept at making effortlessly engaging indie-pop of that sort that the world certainly needs more of.
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Life is out now on TheBeautifulMusic.com.