Album Review: The Griswolds - Be Impressive

21 August 2014 | 8:30 pm | Roshan Clerke

Darker than the band’s previous material.

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Sydneysiders The Griswolds have released their gossamer debut album with all the hyped-up fairy floss energy they can muster.

The four-piece moved to New York to write Be Impressive, trading their guitar sounds for synthesisers. The album effervesces with 11 tracks of carbonated indie-pop sugary enough to cause a cavity in the sweetest musical tooth.

If you’re thinking the fairy floss allusion implies this album has an artificial sound, then you’re correct! The band’s squeaky-clean guitar riffs on Beware The Dog and the bright America are peddled straight from Paul Simon’s Graceland, while their synthesisers shine like the midday sun. 

The band hired producer Tony Hoffer for the album, who’s previously worked with M83 and Foster The People. His studio gloss often leaves Be Impressive sounding as spotless and adrenaline-rushed as a Passion Pit album, but he finds nuances to draw out in the band’s slower moments.

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Live This Nightmare is perhaps The Griswolds’ most downbeat and coherent moment on the album. Thread The Needle likewise thrives off the space provided by this change of tempo, as violins weave in between the vocals of lead singer Chris Whitehall.

The songwriting across these tracks, Aurora Borealis, Not Ready Anymore and If You Wanna Stay is generally stronger. Their honest reflection is darker than the band’s previous material. When Whitehall isn’t writing the child-like cheerleader chants of title track Be Impressive, which sounds straight out of The Go! Team’s songbook, his voice is pleasingly malleable. These syrupy songs are icing on the cake if you’re not blinded by the shine of Be Impressive’s production.