Album Review: Popup - A Time and a Place

Verdict: *****

5 stars: Barack Obama 4 stars: Hilary Clinton 3 stars: Condoleeza Rice
2 stars: John McCain 1 star: Sarah Palin

www.myspace.com/popuptheband

This Glaswegian four piece remain the stuff of legend up in Banchory after their amazing set supporting the Brand New Heavies at this year’s Feugh Fest. Popup are nothing if not direct, but at the same time delivery the heady concoction of friendliness and grisly attitude that only a weegie can deliver. The first song in the album, Love Triangle brings the talents of Damian’s vocals to the fore. There is considerable power in this song from the palatable anguish conveys in Damian’s delivery and the restrained bass riff.

all photos with kind permission from Nutty Photography:www.nuttyphotography.co.uk

Poison Apple shows the boisterous side of the band and their knack for tongue-in-cheek storytelling, as does the catchy Stagecoach. In Stagecoach their technical skill is shown as this song is in 3-4 time and has a great waltz feel to it. ‘and so she’ll say/there’s five different buses each day/and every time I walk away I know/I know I’ve missed it again.’ Then if that wasn’t to perk up the ears of people to enjoy folk who know their craft, they go into a four-part vocal cannon! The short percussive bursts from the guitar hint at the underlying absurdity of it all.

The savior of judas mcdade is a slower song which delivers introspective melancholy which somehow sounds like a cross between Deacon Blue and Radiohead. With close two part harmonies between Damian and drummer Adrienne, Popup go one better than those bands by keeping it restrained and simple.

On the other end of the spectrum we have Chinese Burn.

I predict that this song will be the feel good anthem for festival goers of 2009.

Chinese Burn is an in-your-face attitude song; our little group of protagonists are clearly pissed off and are lashing out against despondency and has one of the most catchy distorted guitar riffs that I have ever heard: ‘You can’t get to sleep/you can’t get a fix/I don’t know what the f**k you’re doing here / But I can’t be f**ked with your tricks.’

Another contrast now with What’s the matter now? which feature a deluge of lyrics and quick guitar chords which is almost George Fornby-like in its execution. Coupled with the cheeky use of toms and little percussion solos, we hear about a farcical relationship, and a boy that doesn’t have any backbone: ‘This is a story of questions and answers/ and war wounds that just can’t be solved/ As there’s good love and bad love/and unless you’ve had both I just wouldn’t get too involved.’

In her day is a prime example of what makes Popup great. They have the amazing agility; they can couple a distinctively grungey reverbed guitar solo with a bossa nova drum beat and it sounds great. They also aren’t afraid to pare it down. Often Damian is singing unaccompanied, almost like a descant over the top while drums, bass and guitar give short energetic burst of rhythm. This song is a great demonstration of what Popup bring to their songs, they give off an effervescence and suck you in. This band has the same great rhythmical discipline that the Rolling Stones have, and it hasn’t done them any harm.

Herein lies the magic of Popup. There are so many different styles of music in this album, with different subject matter and different attitudes they are clearly not influenced by one band, or even one genre. Could you pin down the sound of Franz Ferndinand? You can’t, they are just Franz. Well, this is just Popup; they take you on a musical journey and A Time and a Place is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Like Oasis is arguably deemed the music of Manchester, and the Beatles of Liverpool, Popup encapsulate the sometimes self-effacing, sometimes in-your-face dichotomy of Glasgow.

Popup are a band of dry humour and sincerity, who write what they know and write it well. Like a person you have just met but feel that you have known for years, their songs are approachable and yet reassuring in the same instance. A Time and a Place breathes life into the seemingly mundane and will strike a chord with anyone who has stuggled with the juxtaposition between tolerance and understanding on one hand, and fighting your corner on the other.