It's true, I was all excited about this one. I'd heard "On The Radio" and "Chosen One", and both are sugar-rush delights, Victoria Bergsman's engaging rasp trilling over a luscious weave of modern retro-inspired pop sounds. But, taken over the length of a whole album, In Colour doesn't quite stand up - its joys lie in the details and the overall aesthetic, but too often the melodies aren't there. The two I've already mentioned are wonderful, "Change In The Weather" has something of the same simple thrill to its chorus, "Fiction" pretty much gets the extended buildup thing right, and closer "Song For The Songs" hits the spot, too, but everything else kinda blurs.
I'm also not sure how well the band is served by the somewhat smoother production job which has been done on this record when compared to their debut, self-titled lp. I think that it tends to flatten out some of their best and most distinctive traits - the clanging Velvet Underground guitars and the blare of Bergsman's vocals in particular, and the contrast that those elements set up with the pop sweetness of the melodies, and so there's nothing like, say, the measuredly cacophonous swing of "Say Something New", the two-minute blast of "You Can't Hurry Love" or the desperate swoon of "Lonely As Can Be" on this new record.
When all's said and done, it's still a new Concretes album and it's still just fine (also, the packaging is impeccable, which never hurts...and yes, it's still an article of faith on my part that Scandinavian pop music makes the world a better place!) - it's just that, when compared to its predecessor, In Colour is a bit of a disappointment.
