Album Review: Bishop Allen - Grrr...

Bishop Allen
Grrr...
Dead Oceans, 2009

It’s so cute. Seriously guys, look: “The Lion & The Teacup,” what a preposterous notion! And, and, they took Shanghai and made it a verb! OK, I could go on but I’m not a bully, and it’s not so bad if what you’re looking for is the musical equivalent of baby animals. Which would be fair enough once spring arrives. Raucous double-vocal choruses and instruments you play with a mallet and singsong melodies all over the place. I doubt these guys even own a distortion pedal. Plenty of potentially ironic children’s book lyrics that I can’t imagine bothering to pay attention to. It’s not my thing, but no doubt that they can do tuneful all the way from jaunty to lilting.

[Kiernan Maletsky]