REVIEW: The Belle Brigade

I cannot imagine I will hear a better debut album this year. The Belle Brigade are Ethan and Barbara Gruska, a brother and sister duo from the West Coast who seem to have spent the majority of their time on earth basking in the sunshine of Simon & Garfunkel and early Fleetwood Mac, and the remainder of their time crafting a series of exquisite So Cal pop belters which instill in the listener an irresistable urge to a) wiggle their feet 2) punch the air 3) check that no-one saw them do it and 4) grin. I don't love music much more than this. The whole album is first-rate, combining enormous craft, gusty raucousness, and gyroscopic harmonies that bloom and snap like sails on a windy day. These beauties sail. The track above — their first single — is one of the slower, more anthemic ones, with a beautiful lyric about..... well, if I say it's about the urge to quit the rat race, stop comparing and despairing, etc, that will sound trite, but just listen to the way the harmonies build and the thrashing of those guitars in the chorus: its got the urgency of someone trying to beat sense into their head. Oh and their grandfather is John Williams. I'm maxed out. A-