I can’t call Carpark North a guilty pleasure, because I don’t feel guilty about listening to them. It’s just that their tunes have such a decidedly ’80s feeling, from sweeping synthesizer to the occiasional vocoder to corny but anthemic lyrics. But, you know? I love most of the iconic ’80s music, and Carpark North give the style their own modern Danish flavor.

Don’t expect any deep lyrical content here. Sometimes I wonder how well the band actually knows English, especially while listening to 2005’s All Things to All People. This group is clearly more about sound than meaning. One of their greatest strengths is the ability to transition naturally and seamlessly from intense to calm in a split second, something that has always drawn me to music. The best example of this is “The Beasts,” one of their more popular songs from the previously mentioned All Things…. But, despite having already mentioned it twice, that’s not the album I’m here to talk about.

Carpark North released their third LP, entitled Grateful, on September 8 of this year. I’m not going to lie; as the title of the opening track suggests, it’s more of the same when compared with previous efforts. Normally this would be a bad thing, but at the end of All Things for All People I wanted more of the same. Ask, and ye shall receive!

Grateful hasn’t yet thrown any specifically tremendous tracks at me thus far, but I often find that it takes ten or even twenty listens of an album for the feeling to truly sink in. The one song that immediately stands out is the title track, “Shall We Be Grateful.” The beginning is deceptively bland, but when the chorus comes in it creates a sort of energy burst that carries itself throughout the rest of the album. Another interesting track is the opener, More. Between the electric guitar lies the distinctive sound of chip music, drawing me immediately into the tracks to come. “Bring the Lights” is also pleasing to the ears, although it’s nothing particularly new or innovative.

My suggestion for a new listener is this:
Listen to All Things to All People two or three times first, because it takes a little while to get into it. If you like it, you’ll like Grateful. If you don’t, Grateful is probably not worth your time.

“Shall We Be Grateful” – Download
“Bring the Lights” – Download

Visit Carpark North’s MySpace page where you can hear more preview tracks, or purchase the album here.

Tags: Carpark North

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Band Ramble, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.