Published on Mar 3, 2006
In the eighties, when pop was frivolous and
flamboyant, the UK produced one of the greatest bands of that era,
the Eurythmics; a man-woman pop duo that was ironically all about
unpretentious and intelligent pop music. Almost 20 years later, we
have Drunk With Joy, a male-female duo — also from the UK — that
follows the footsteps of the Eurythmics, in terms of the smartness
and straightforwardness in its music. Sound Living is only
Drunk’s first album; but it shows a lot of maturity and
promise.
In this present electro-pop craze of
technology-hungry musicians seeking sophisticated electronics to
get a richer sound, Drunk’s creativity in simplicity shows that
even for electro-pop, technology is not the only ingredient for a
great song. The uniqueness of this pair — consisting of vocalist
Mila Oshin and musician Kris Jager — is that their songs are
minimally bestowed with gaudy production effects. There is almost
no fancy atmospherics to extra spruce up the songs here. Still,
there is never a moment on Sound Living where the production
is lacking, and the album sounds elegantly polished. Even amongst
the frugality of this record, meat is added wherever necessary,
like chunky beats, lush synths, and razor-sharp guitars, without
being too indulgent.
Oshin is not the most brilliant vocalist in the
world. But on Sound Living she demonstrates that it is not
necessary to have an extraordinary voice to be a good singer. She
sings within her limitations and her stoic vocals suit the kind of
songs written on this album; the singing and the lyrics work to
complement each other.
The cut “Woman,” for instance, is feminist but
sneeringly so, and gets a good deal of sarcasm from Oshin’s apt
vocals. Also, the cynicism on “Our Friends The Actors” (a pitiful
take on faking in everyday situations of life) and the
resentfulness on “Go In Stay In Tune In” (a skeptical look at the
media’s dominance over us) couldn’t have been better expressed than
by Oshin’s impassive singing. In addition, Oshin’s vocals add a
kind of Fiona Apple-ish arrogance to the band’s love songs, which
make them sound weirdly unconventional.
Sincere and non-presumptuous alt-pop is Drunk’s
mantra for creativity, and the formula behind Sound Living.
This formula seems to work perfectly, as this record shows an
immensely promising act for the future. Drunk has the potential to
be this generation’s Eurythmics; hopefully someday it will.
[For more information on Drunk With Joy, visit www.drunkwithjoy.com]