Lucky Soul's debut album The Great Unwanted is released tomorrow and the British pop landscape will change forever. Lucky Soul shake shimmy shimmy shake shimmy shaked their way into our brittle pop hearts with an overheated stroboscope. Last year's summer hit Lips Are Unhappy glittered with the sea. It was only the beginning of a long friendship. Lucky Soul were with me wherever I thrived. Lucky Soul on youtube, at after parties, and played by the DJ at Blekingska before Au Revoir Simone's concert. Lucky Soul were my obvious first choice in the category "best new band" when I summed up last year. Both Lips Are Unhappy and The Great Unwanted deservedly made it into top10 on my list of last year's best songs.
The Great Unwanted is a long parade filled with great melodies and beautiful vocals. The singer Ali Howard is comfortable with both sunshine pop and sweet ballads. I am even more impressed by the sum of the parts. Listen to the changing pace in Ain't Never Been Cool and listen to the end of One Kiss Don't Make a Summer. I get to hear all my favourite Lucky Soul songs, except for Give Me Love, from the second the introducing track Add Your Light to Mine, Baby starts.
Add your light to mine x3
Together we could shine
Lucky Soul's strength is also their only weakness. Sometimes I feel that The Great Unwanted sounds more like a collection than an album. There is not enough depth in the music. That is the most negative thing I have to say about the record. Lucky Soul's pop perfection leaves very little to be desired, and it is hard to blame a band for being specialists at writing hits. Lucky Soul have never pretended to be a band to cry with, and everyone can not be all things at once.
Forget the image-aware The Pipettes, and forget the sixties. Lucky Soul feel more at home in the contemporary pop scene where they have placed a never-ending candy vending machine. The Great Unwanted is one of the ten best records of the 2000s. But it is not a ten. Not when Last Song ends the record instead of the wonderful It's Yours. As if that would make any difference. Song by song, The Great Unwanted will be capable of matching everything that is released this year. Everything.
Nine Out of Ten
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