Color Film is a project resulting from the shared musical interests of Glassjaw\/Head Automatica frontman Daryl Palumbo and Men Women & Children bassist\/Head Automatica multi-instrumentalist Richard Penzone. The duo\u2019s debut, Living Arrangements<\/i>, is a mishmash of all the sounds that came out of the New Wave era. But things are not quite that simple. Even though the music here might \u201csound\u201d familiar, the song arrangements are like a dream that\u2019s full of chaos: all you can remember are bits and pieces of the narrative, but you have no clue as to how they all connect.<\/p>\n
Tension and pandemonium are built into the DNA of this album. Opening cut, the super-short \u201cWe\u2019d Kill Each Other,\u201d is disorienting and abrupt. \u201cAmbush Bug\u201d is maddening, with its marching drumming that beats with a breathless pace. The ever changing \u201cBrass In Seven\u201d seems at times like it is totally out of control, like a drunken brawl in a bar. \u201cI Need A Parasite\u201d is a song on some kind of a trip with its quirky synthesizer sounds and absurdly stoic vocals. Of course, there are plenty of Wire\/Duran Duran\/Talking Heads influences to be found in these numbers. But Palumbo and Penzone put a deranged spin on these influences that is enough to not make them seem so apparent.<\/p>\n
Eccentricity rules Living Arrangements<\/i>. However, the disc is much less maniacal\u2026at least sometimes. \u201cBad Saint\u201d has a reggae vibe and a cheesy \u201880s sentimentality that sounds fun and easily relatable. \u201cDay After Day\u201d is like a Love And Rockets goth-pop track \u2013 dark but poppy at the same time. \u201cRestless Summer,\u201d despite its lyrics scoffing at Los Angeles (\u201cFrom the top of your silly sign to your Sunset Strip \/ I\u2019ve seen so many things, worst of which here\u2026and there\u2019s nothing you can say to make me stay another day\u201d), is catchy with a sunny disposition. \u201cCrawling In Circles\u201d has a sort of sexy noir-pop thing going on, similar to Duran Duran\u2019s \u201cA View To A Kill.\u201d \u201cSpringtime Of Our Love\u201d is gorgeously smooth and the most straightforward track on Living Arrangements<\/i>, as if were taken straight from the core of the new romantic movement.<\/p>\n
Whether they are being absolutely kooky or more conventional, Color Film has a take on New Wave that is more interesting than imitative. Living Arrangements<\/i> is not an album for those merely looking for a recognizable throwback sound. It is weird enough to make you uncomfortable. But it is also a ton of fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":33310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10084],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-45121","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-color-film","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45121"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}