A Smile and a Ribbon The Boy I Wish I Never Met. Title track starts first, a bit like Aislers Set Alicia's Song. Slow, dreamy, echoey, drifty, girly, her voice is a bit more helium infused than that Linton fella. But then it springs to life, it's like Cub or Tiger Trap or Eggplant or any of those bands like that. Poppy, more than it is punky, there is barely a hint of snarl in those chords, hardly any at all, it's cuteness and an intravenous injection of caffeine at the most. Red Bull rock. They would belong in the same coterie of groups that would include the Brunettes, Pipas, etc...male/female duos with more ideas than space to fit them on the hard drive. Nice tinkles on the glockenspiel? It must be a glockenspiel, it is always a glockenspiel these days. It is the new melodica. Second song now, short song, a bit like the Diskettes, whirlwind and acoustic and an effortless sway to and fro. It's Swedish. Every other record released these days is from Sweden. Why is this? I don't know. Currently I am reading about guayale and Sonoran brittlebrush which each drop poisonous leave so to prevent competition from other plants in their resource pool, clever trees. Fascinating and of the joys of Jasmonic acid. Maybe when we have all died from hysteria the oats shall take over the world and the history of the planet will then be told to starry messengers from the most distant galaxies by chemical messenger molecules with longer half-lifes left behind in the root balls of social grasses and legumes. Third song, dreamy, cute and whereas I had said that Irene weren't really twee I can't say the same for A Smile and a Ribbon though I would agree that they are witty and charming and they have that awkward smarminess that seems requisite in these less than innocent times. It just sounds so darn precious, even their smut seems polished and a joy to behold. I don't have the free seven inch single that came with the cd, though it wasn't really free. One day business majors will start indiepop labels. Next song, it sounds very early 90s indiepop, from within these songs you can see the insides of the world of the Receptionists, the Lotus Eaters, Names for Pebbles, etc...it's semi-marvelous. Now with a cacophony of sounds yelps, guitars, poorly tuned horns, backing crowds for backing vocals, dramatic posturing and the sound of the galvanizing of a movement or something. Cheers. Next song, A Nice Walk in the Park, a casual strum, it sounds like a song for strolling. This is folky, sounds like an after school special going on in the lyrics, some guy named Dan, she doesn't want to see him or something, I can't quite make out the last name. Is it a famous Dan? I don't know. Perhaps a professional inline skater or something. It's frightfully warm here, it is meant to be over 100 degrees fahrenheit. It was hotter 3 years ago. i don't remember that. Weather is the only thing I am able to forget. It hasn't rained for months and I am feeling parched, I need the rain to soften the furrow lines in my forehead and the rain to wash away the stink of the dust devils and Russian Olive stumps. This song is a vague exercise in the avant garde, they probably had a course at university on Alice Coltrane. Right. One of them writes a website. it is a website that is much more famous than this one, though most are. I have started advertising this site because I am unstable and wish to have my meltdowns more widely displayed. But I have been advertising to people who don't really care at all about the things I write about. Next song, A Little Late to be Polite, lots of dynamics on this even as it is mainly tiny and untroublesome. Lovely bits now of synthesized magic, a fairy tale interlude, back to he pseudo-griminess of their unjagged guitars and sugary vocals, big finish. Excellent. Next song, already, Bobby Pin. Sounds like a thrift shop guitar. I bought my guitar in a thrift shop. It looked brand new when I bought it. it still looks pretty new, I was never an enthusiastic ripper. THis one is nice. Lots of electronics, some europop aping vocals, it's mechanic, it is not as cool as say Stereo Total but clearly they are fans. Francois Cactus could send them a copy of one of her books so they could learn to swing. They don't swing. Do people in Sweden swing? Even a raucous little unit such as Love is All seem bashful and polite while wailing and wizbanging on the guitars and the skronky saxophones. it could be that Al Gore is her hero and he's sitting on her. Maybe they will turn into my new hopes for 2008, Love is All saviours of the universe. Pas/Cal's album is really really bad. It isn't a mere disappointment. I promised, though, I did, to never speak of it, it's hard to keep my thoughts between my ears and away from my paralyzed fingertips. Next song borrows from the Angels My Boyfriend's Back, we don't mind, it's a bit clever. The drums sound like they are inside of trash bins, sounds as if there is a piano soaked in brine and hand claps made by old drum machines, excellent. It sounds dilapidated and wheezy but has an elegant and charming veneer. Baby's Breath, record crackle, sounds like the Motifs. It is a love song in case the 97 times she mentions "love" in the first verse didn't clue you in. It's a bit Talulah Gosh, a bit Beatnik Boy-esque. It all comes back to Talulah Gosh in the end. I can still remember Lois Maffeo's on site report to Calvin Johnson on the inside of the reissue CD. She didn't like Elizabeth Price. Made me like Elizabeth Price more since Lois was a laff mostly. Well those Courtney Love singles were pretty nice, if only for the Highlights covers, then the lawsuits, the real name, the Sassy photo spreads and feathered hair and a generation's loss of innocence when the second Verve album was released. It's an imaginary world that I have constructed. The last song is titled Outro, I am betting that it is an instrumental farewell. Still with the record crackle, some twinkles on a toy xylophone or something. Not that interesting, to be honest.