Regular contributor to this site Jay Mukherjee said upon hearing "I Can't Stand the Rain", the third advance single from this BV's record, that the band sounded like a German Bodines. I think he's probably right about that. There's a lot on Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures, the Augsburg-based group's new album, that might invite such a comparison. And while Stan Cierlitsky, another site contributor, was won over by the band's sound, they scored extra points in his books for a member wearing a Los Campesinos! t-shirt in the video for "Clipping", the first single here.
All that is a way of saying that The BV's have a wonderfully intuitive sound that plays upon that of earlier pioneers. Sure, the Creation Records references are apt, but the mid-tempo "Warp" channels early New Order and The Cure, even as the title cut nods in the direction of "Just Like Honey"-era JAMC. With a facility that's quite stunning, this four-piece craft and perform songs that are -- let's just say -- every bit as good as lots of those of the bands that clearly influenced them. "Sundays" takes things one step further, sounding like The Ocean Blue, a band also besotted with the same set of largely British influences.
There's winding riff at the start of "Anything" that Maurice Deebank would have been proud to claim as his own, and the track expands in a down-tempo rumination that's borderline hypnotic. I suppose a lot of folks will be drawn to this record from what's on the lead singles, but I was sort of surprised at how much of the less-jangle-y numbers resonated with me. It comes back to the deftness with which this is all rendered. The BV's know what they are doing, and there's nothing wasted here on this album.
While "Breakdown" swirls in VU bliss, there's little real darkness here, despite lyrics like: "I had a breakdown like I planned it." Rather, The BV's have a spark that renders this material joyous and resilient. This is the sound of so many bands I grew up listening to (the same for Jay and Stan quoted up above) and I just sort of sunk into this record in a happy way. Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures reminds one how much juice is left in jangle-pop when it's performed with a little bit of passion, and in a smart fashion.
In North America, you can buy Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures by The BV's via Shelflife. Further details below too.
[Photo: Bruno Tenschert]