Post by blade on Feb 9, 2011 12:36:33 GMT
Source:
www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/09/sad-day-for-puppets-pale-silver-and-shiny-gold/
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets – Pale Silver And Shiny Gold
by Adrian Mules on 06. Sep, 2010
Zombies eh? Back in the early days of Romero’s black and white flicks they ambled about, bumped into shit and got confused by a fence. Admittedly they were pretty eerie, but if you were fleet of foot and didn’t back yourself into a corner your chances of survival were pretty high. But then something happened and the buggers started to run, and I mean really run. Pelting around like Ben Johnson after the stanozolol van, certainly much faster than you or I can fumble ammunition into a rusty old revolver. A similar transformation appears to have taken place to Sweden’s Sad Day For Puppets, as their spooky but sedate debut Unknown Colors has been superseded by the more urgent and high-tempo Pale Silver and Shiny Gold.
Those spooky undertones haven’t been discarded though, far from it. Their ethereal charms now swirl with a cyclonic velocity that when combined with richer and fuller production make their early recordings feel like demos in comparison. From the opening doubled-barrelled vocal assault of the Eklund sisters on ‘Sorrow, Sorrow’ through to the closing blare of ‘’Tingle In My Hand’ it grabs you by the scruff of the neck and propels your through its curios like a runaway ghost train.
As the first bars of the second track, ‘Such A Waste’, burst into life many might lurch toward their MP3 player to check it isn’t set to shuffle and hasn’t accidentally skipped onto Dinosaur Jr. – such is the reverence for Massachusetts’ favourite sons. But it’s not plagiarism or Dinosaur Jr Jr (or should that be Dinosaur Grandson?), their passion for the complexities and nuances of J Mascis build upon his work rather than trying to offer up a poor facsimile of the virtuoso.
Whilst it’s easy to focus on the increased depth and ferocity that the band has achieved in such a short time, it would mean nothing without the song-writing. Fortunately this has also grown in line with their other facets. Across a dizzying variety of styles there are infectious riffs and melodies a-plenty; album high-point ‘Touch’ instantly leaps out as a classic even on the first play. But after several weeks it will be standing room only in a subconscious populated almost exclusively by the puppets.
Pale Silver and Shiny Gold is a sophomore album that delivers on the promises made by their debut and then some. Too often bands best ideas are spent in the first year. But these cupboards are far from bare and if they remain on this trajectory world domination would seem like a real possibility.
TLOBF.COM RECOMMENDED
********
Source: drownedinsound.com/releases/15661/reviews/4140890
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets
Pale Silver & Shiny Gold
September 7th, 2010
Conceived in the suburbs of Stockholm around the midpoint of the last decade, it's clear Sad Day For Puppets hearts and minds are tuned to a time and place preceding that by several years. While the resurgence of interest in Nineties shoegaze orientated grunge pop has been well documented in recent times, there's no disputing where the main body of inspiration lies both on this record and indeed its predecessor, Unknown Colors. That's not to say Sad Day For Puppets are an unoriginal pastiche of the past; far from it in fact, but there are nagging doubts as to how far they can actually develop.
Whereas last year's Unknown Colors served its purpose by way of an introduction to Sad Day For Puppets' ethereal world - not to mention bursting at the seams with a glut of impeccable tunes - Pale Silver & Shiny Gold seems to suffer at times from something of an identity crisis.
Take opener 'Sorrow' for example, a lovelorn ballad in the style of Howling Bells or The Raveonettes. Where 'Marble Gods' kick-started the first SDFP record, 'Sorrow' advocates a cautious slumber, despite the delectability of Anna Eklund's childlike coo.
There's no disputing the fact Sad Day For Puppets are at their best when they're angry, and 'Such A Waste' and 'Anne Says Pt. II' both display a penchant for loud, fuzzy guitars and hearty stadium-sized choruses. 'Shadows' too suggests the five-piece spent their teenage years building up an impressive record collection, its floating melody ending up somewhere in the chasm between Everything's Alright Forever-era Boo Radleys and long forgotten New Yorkers Madder Rose.
At times, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold takes an unexpected twist, not least on the acoustic country of 'Beads', which sees Eklund doing her best Sarabeth Tucek/Miranda Lee Richards impersonation and pulling it off with dramatic aplomb. The penultimate 'First Time' continues the album's downbeat spiral into despair, its self-effacing reflective aura leading succinctly into the melancholy 'Tingle In My Hand', at five-and-a-half minutes long Pale Silver & Shiny Gold's epic standpoint.
Sad Day For Puppets have constructed a credible, if slightly unmemorable record. A little more variation on the recurring influences omnipresent throughout their entire repertoire wouldn't go amiss in future.
Sad Day For Puppets 6/10
********
Source: www.musicomh.com/albums/sad-day-for-puppets-2_0910.htm
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets - Pale Silver & Shiny Gold
(Sonic Cathedral) UK release date: 6 September 2010
by Sam Shepherd
4/5
The second album from Sad Day For Puppets sees the band perhaps attempting to change the way they're perceived. Having toured with sonic terrorists A Place To Bury Strangers, Sad Day have added a bit more grit and vigour to their sound. To augment this new darker outlook, the fact that they come from Blackeberg in Sweden - the same town that Let The Right One In was filmed in - seems to be one of the key facts surrounding the band at the moment.
Such detail is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Sure it sets the scene nicely, but Sad Day for Puppets were writing disarmingly cute indie songs a little over a year ago for their debut album Unknown Colours, and they were from Blackeberg then too. What is not insignificant is that, with Pale Silver & Shiny Gold, Sad Day For Puppets have gained an edge which means that they're now punching with considerable weight.
Opening track Sorrow Sorrow might not appear to have moved far beyond the sound of Unknown Colours. Pitch perfect vocal harmonies designed to melt the heart collide with guitars that chime with an almost festive feel. The squeal of feedback that ends the track might sound out of place but is a signifier of what is to come, as Such A Waste kicks off in frantic style. Full-on riffs propelled by cantering drums and grinding basslines evoke the spirit of Where You Been? era Dinosaur Jr, particularly with the tone of the solos. Even when the band calm down for the verses, the rumbling bass threatens to trample Anna Eklund's delicate vocals into the floor.
Eklund's style is plucked directly from the sound of '60s pop, and her breathy gentle vocals steal the limelight on several occasions on the album. Those in search of a more contemporary reference point need look no further than Lauren Laverne. On Shadows in particular you can hear the ghost of Get In era Kenickie applying its mascara quite clearly.
For all of Eklund's perfect-pop vocals, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold is a much harder record than the band's debut. The brooding noise of Anna Says II is genuinely creepy with Eklund echoing within the confined space of brutal bass and relentless drums. Monster & The Beast meanwhile starts off like Oasis' Slide Away, but quickly develops into a hazy shoegaze anthem complete with flute, washes of guitar noise, and Eklund's ethereal voice majestically soaring above the noise.
There are gems all over the album - Beads might sound like a throwaway folk song, but there's something lurking in the heart of this dainty waltzing lullaby - and it has teeth. Fuzzy Feather kicks off like a Rolling Stones tune, and develops into a sugar-coated garage-punk song. Listeners of a certain vintage will be reminded of the likes of Veruca Salt, Tiny Monroe, and perhaps The Primitives.
The album finishes up with the two ballads First Time and Tingle In My Hand; both are affecting and spectral, flooding from the speakers like a drowsy mist. They might not be the most immediate songs on the album, but they're certainly the most beautiful.
With Pale Silver & Shiny Gold, Sad Day for Puppets have not just changed their musical outlook but kicked the myth of the difficult second album squarely in the trousers as well.
********
Source:
soundblab.com/content/content/view/id/2293
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets
Pale Silver & Shiny Gold
Sonic Cathedral Recordings
Released: Monday 6 September 2010
7/10
Obviously fed up with being famous for Abba and Roxette's playful pop, Sweden's artistic types have now decided dark works best. Hailing from the same town as the setting of the recent massive cult film success Let the Right One In, Sad Day for Puppets emerge from the cold with their second album after the well received Unknown Colours - only this time the colours are clear from the title alone.
Much like the vampires the country is becoming well known for, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold is a monster in disguise. Underneath the sprightly Indie-pop of 'Touch's radio-friendly guitar crunch lies a darker beast which rears its head on the much rockier 'Such a Waste' and 'Anne Says Pt II'.
Opener 'Sorrow, Sorrow' certainly doesn't give this impression. The best song on the album, its soft guitar and ghostly harmonies show off singer Anna Eklund's vocals well paired with sister Annika's as the pair plead "Sorrow, sorrow, come back tomorrow/ I've got no tears for you today." Similarly 'Touch' and 'Shadows', though rockier, could have been penned by Noel Gallagher himself as decent b-sides; lively, fuzzy three minute gems. 'Beads' is a pleasant, slower acoustic ballad which, coming in the middle of the album, gives the whole a nice balance.
However, for every good track there's an equally tepid grungy track to compensate. 'Monster & The Beast' and 'Such a Waste' are both forgettable, lost in repetitive noise. Thankfully though the album ends well with the Cranberries-sounding 'First Time' and the more anthemic closer 'Tingle in My Hand'. Both show a band more comfortable and confident with melodic rock, and all the better for it.
It's probably apt that the title seems to fit the album well; some songs are golden, others pale imitations of bigger band's better efforts. Sticking to the more radio-friendly fare though might see these sad puppets become gleeful masters after all.
www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/09/sad-day-for-puppets-pale-silver-and-shiny-gold/
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets – Pale Silver And Shiny Gold
by Adrian Mules on 06. Sep, 2010
Zombies eh? Back in the early days of Romero’s black and white flicks they ambled about, bumped into shit and got confused by a fence. Admittedly they were pretty eerie, but if you were fleet of foot and didn’t back yourself into a corner your chances of survival were pretty high. But then something happened and the buggers started to run, and I mean really run. Pelting around like Ben Johnson after the stanozolol van, certainly much faster than you or I can fumble ammunition into a rusty old revolver. A similar transformation appears to have taken place to Sweden’s Sad Day For Puppets, as their spooky but sedate debut Unknown Colors has been superseded by the more urgent and high-tempo Pale Silver and Shiny Gold.
Those spooky undertones haven’t been discarded though, far from it. Their ethereal charms now swirl with a cyclonic velocity that when combined with richer and fuller production make their early recordings feel like demos in comparison. From the opening doubled-barrelled vocal assault of the Eklund sisters on ‘Sorrow, Sorrow’ through to the closing blare of ‘’Tingle In My Hand’ it grabs you by the scruff of the neck and propels your through its curios like a runaway ghost train.
As the first bars of the second track, ‘Such A Waste’, burst into life many might lurch toward their MP3 player to check it isn’t set to shuffle and hasn’t accidentally skipped onto Dinosaur Jr. – such is the reverence for Massachusetts’ favourite sons. But it’s not plagiarism or Dinosaur Jr Jr (or should that be Dinosaur Grandson?), their passion for the complexities and nuances of J Mascis build upon his work rather than trying to offer up a poor facsimile of the virtuoso.
Whilst it’s easy to focus on the increased depth and ferocity that the band has achieved in such a short time, it would mean nothing without the song-writing. Fortunately this has also grown in line with their other facets. Across a dizzying variety of styles there are infectious riffs and melodies a-plenty; album high-point ‘Touch’ instantly leaps out as a classic even on the first play. But after several weeks it will be standing room only in a subconscious populated almost exclusively by the puppets.
Pale Silver and Shiny Gold is a sophomore album that delivers on the promises made by their debut and then some. Too often bands best ideas are spent in the first year. But these cupboards are far from bare and if they remain on this trajectory world domination would seem like a real possibility.
TLOBF.COM RECOMMENDED
********
Source: drownedinsound.com/releases/15661/reviews/4140890
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets
Pale Silver & Shiny Gold
September 7th, 2010
Conceived in the suburbs of Stockholm around the midpoint of the last decade, it's clear Sad Day For Puppets hearts and minds are tuned to a time and place preceding that by several years. While the resurgence of interest in Nineties shoegaze orientated grunge pop has been well documented in recent times, there's no disputing where the main body of inspiration lies both on this record and indeed its predecessor, Unknown Colors. That's not to say Sad Day For Puppets are an unoriginal pastiche of the past; far from it in fact, but there are nagging doubts as to how far they can actually develop.
Whereas last year's Unknown Colors served its purpose by way of an introduction to Sad Day For Puppets' ethereal world - not to mention bursting at the seams with a glut of impeccable tunes - Pale Silver & Shiny Gold seems to suffer at times from something of an identity crisis.
Take opener 'Sorrow' for example, a lovelorn ballad in the style of Howling Bells or The Raveonettes. Where 'Marble Gods' kick-started the first SDFP record, 'Sorrow' advocates a cautious slumber, despite the delectability of Anna Eklund's childlike coo.
There's no disputing the fact Sad Day For Puppets are at their best when they're angry, and 'Such A Waste' and 'Anne Says Pt. II' both display a penchant for loud, fuzzy guitars and hearty stadium-sized choruses. 'Shadows' too suggests the five-piece spent their teenage years building up an impressive record collection, its floating melody ending up somewhere in the chasm between Everything's Alright Forever-era Boo Radleys and long forgotten New Yorkers Madder Rose.
At times, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold takes an unexpected twist, not least on the acoustic country of 'Beads', which sees Eklund doing her best Sarabeth Tucek/Miranda Lee Richards impersonation and pulling it off with dramatic aplomb. The penultimate 'First Time' continues the album's downbeat spiral into despair, its self-effacing reflective aura leading succinctly into the melancholy 'Tingle In My Hand', at five-and-a-half minutes long Pale Silver & Shiny Gold's epic standpoint.
Sad Day For Puppets have constructed a credible, if slightly unmemorable record. A little more variation on the recurring influences omnipresent throughout their entire repertoire wouldn't go amiss in future.
Sad Day For Puppets 6/10
********
Source: www.musicomh.com/albums/sad-day-for-puppets-2_0910.htm
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets - Pale Silver & Shiny Gold
(Sonic Cathedral) UK release date: 6 September 2010
by Sam Shepherd
4/5
The second album from Sad Day For Puppets sees the band perhaps attempting to change the way they're perceived. Having toured with sonic terrorists A Place To Bury Strangers, Sad Day have added a bit more grit and vigour to their sound. To augment this new darker outlook, the fact that they come from Blackeberg in Sweden - the same town that Let The Right One In was filmed in - seems to be one of the key facts surrounding the band at the moment.
Such detail is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Sure it sets the scene nicely, but Sad Day for Puppets were writing disarmingly cute indie songs a little over a year ago for their debut album Unknown Colours, and they were from Blackeberg then too. What is not insignificant is that, with Pale Silver & Shiny Gold, Sad Day For Puppets have gained an edge which means that they're now punching with considerable weight.
Opening track Sorrow Sorrow might not appear to have moved far beyond the sound of Unknown Colours. Pitch perfect vocal harmonies designed to melt the heart collide with guitars that chime with an almost festive feel. The squeal of feedback that ends the track might sound out of place but is a signifier of what is to come, as Such A Waste kicks off in frantic style. Full-on riffs propelled by cantering drums and grinding basslines evoke the spirit of Where You Been? era Dinosaur Jr, particularly with the tone of the solos. Even when the band calm down for the verses, the rumbling bass threatens to trample Anna Eklund's delicate vocals into the floor.
Eklund's style is plucked directly from the sound of '60s pop, and her breathy gentle vocals steal the limelight on several occasions on the album. Those in search of a more contemporary reference point need look no further than Lauren Laverne. On Shadows in particular you can hear the ghost of Get In era Kenickie applying its mascara quite clearly.
For all of Eklund's perfect-pop vocals, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold is a much harder record than the band's debut. The brooding noise of Anna Says II is genuinely creepy with Eklund echoing within the confined space of brutal bass and relentless drums. Monster & The Beast meanwhile starts off like Oasis' Slide Away, but quickly develops into a hazy shoegaze anthem complete with flute, washes of guitar noise, and Eklund's ethereal voice majestically soaring above the noise.
There are gems all over the album - Beads might sound like a throwaway folk song, but there's something lurking in the heart of this dainty waltzing lullaby - and it has teeth. Fuzzy Feather kicks off like a Rolling Stones tune, and develops into a sugar-coated garage-punk song. Listeners of a certain vintage will be reminded of the likes of Veruca Salt, Tiny Monroe, and perhaps The Primitives.
The album finishes up with the two ballads First Time and Tingle In My Hand; both are affecting and spectral, flooding from the speakers like a drowsy mist. They might not be the most immediate songs on the album, but they're certainly the most beautiful.
With Pale Silver & Shiny Gold, Sad Day for Puppets have not just changed their musical outlook but kicked the myth of the difficult second album squarely in the trousers as well.
********
Source:
soundblab.com/content/content/view/id/2293
Text:
Sad Day For Puppets
Pale Silver & Shiny Gold
Sonic Cathedral Recordings
Released: Monday 6 September 2010
7/10
Obviously fed up with being famous for Abba and Roxette's playful pop, Sweden's artistic types have now decided dark works best. Hailing from the same town as the setting of the recent massive cult film success Let the Right One In, Sad Day for Puppets emerge from the cold with their second album after the well received Unknown Colours - only this time the colours are clear from the title alone.
Much like the vampires the country is becoming well known for, Pale Silver & Shiny Gold is a monster in disguise. Underneath the sprightly Indie-pop of 'Touch's radio-friendly guitar crunch lies a darker beast which rears its head on the much rockier 'Such a Waste' and 'Anne Says Pt II'.
Opener 'Sorrow, Sorrow' certainly doesn't give this impression. The best song on the album, its soft guitar and ghostly harmonies show off singer Anna Eklund's vocals well paired with sister Annika's as the pair plead "Sorrow, sorrow, come back tomorrow/ I've got no tears for you today." Similarly 'Touch' and 'Shadows', though rockier, could have been penned by Noel Gallagher himself as decent b-sides; lively, fuzzy three minute gems. 'Beads' is a pleasant, slower acoustic ballad which, coming in the middle of the album, gives the whole a nice balance.
However, for every good track there's an equally tepid grungy track to compensate. 'Monster & The Beast' and 'Such a Waste' are both forgettable, lost in repetitive noise. Thankfully though the album ends well with the Cranberries-sounding 'First Time' and the more anthemic closer 'Tingle in My Hand'. Both show a band more comfortable and confident with melodic rock, and all the better for it.
It's probably apt that the title seems to fit the album well; some songs are golden, others pale imitations of bigger band's better efforts. Sticking to the more radio-friendly fare though might see these sad puppets become gleeful masters after all.