Grovesnor is the solo project of Rob Smoughton of Hot Chip. Hot Chip has long been the steady purveyors of smart updates on some cheesy 80s staples done with a sense of fun and wonder. Grovesnor very similarly has created an album that is steeped in late 70s/80s nostalgia, but rather than borrowing heavily from dance conventions he has borrowed heavily from cheesy, mass-produced 80s balladry, and the result is often times very good stuff. It is done tongue in cheek, much as Hot Chip, and certainly never takes itself too seriously, and in that sense it is a fun, nostalgic update on some cheesy motifs. While it doesn’t quite stand up as tall on its own as Hot Chip does, it is still a fun little sidetrack into some cool songs.
The album kicks off with a fun, ridiculous “Turn Your Radio Up” which is just one progression with autotune over it telling you to turn it up. The album then kicks off with “Taxi From The Airport” and “Dan”, which are a superb one-two punch of songs that set the tone for this album so perfectly and brilliantly that you get what he’s going for, but he is also making it fun to listen to. Then “Nitemoves” starts off with the most beautifully derivative and ridiculously cheesy 80s synth ballad intro, which leads into a more upbeat. The title of the song really sums up what this album is all about. You can almost remember hearing a cheesy 80s ballad back in the day about “Nitemoves” or something similar, probably during an episode of Miami Vice.
The beginning of the album is superbly done, but the latter half of the album doesn’t quite hold as well as the first, although “No Doubt About It” and “When I Saw You Dance” are both very solidly done tracks and fit right in with the motif here. The off-beat appeal of the album is where its charm is, but it doesn’t quite sustain it the whole way through. Some of the stuff in here is great and funny and well done, but it really excels in its absurdity, and maybe it doesn’t make for a great whole album in total.
This is an album to have fun with and to enjoy for sure, and is not meant to be taken too seriously at all. If you enjoy Hot Chip’s tongue in cheek jabs at certain 80s conventions, then you will probably get the humor and fun of this album as well, as it is steeped in that same mentality, just a lot more 70s/80s pop-synth ballads. It is fun stuff, but is really a nice sidetrack and doesn’t strike as a cohesive, forward-looking effort, although I would definitely love to see what he comes up with going forward. He has hit the nail on the head for what he is shooting for here, and it is a fun, nostalgic journey back that really pokes fun at its source material and itself, so it is a fun, good listen.
Grovesnor – Dan – From Soft Return (Amazon | iTunes)
Grovesnor – Nitemoves – From Soft Return (Amazon | iTunes)
