Since cooling it down isn't their style, The Veronicas are hard at work with their second album, "Hook Me Up", arriving a matter of 18 months after their super debut (in the US anyway). Right out the gate, we hear piercing synth-strings deliver the indelible hook to "Untouched", one of the finest creations of teen-pop ever recorded. Thankfully, there's plenty more where that came from, as Lisa and Jess Origliasso decidedly make "Hook Me Up" more sonically unified in electro-punk than their masterful pop/rock debut. This often results in some less hookier songs, but as a whole, there's no denying that this record catches the Veronicas' spunk and chutzpah more consistently than their last record. This is due to the new batch of guilty pleasures they'e concocted this time around; take for example the delicious contempt of "Popular", the purest pop-punk track and also the weirdest song here. Other selections include the title track, which in true Veronicas style, rejects conformity and instead amps up the electronic quotient and shatters the sound barriers with window-rattling guitars and synth. While these moves may borrow a little too literally from Avril Lavigne's dance-punk makeover in 2007, the Veronicas fuse this bubblegum music with the perverse undercurrents of t.A.T.u, specifically their 2005 album that marked a new age in teen pop. Instead of sisters, they're now soul-mates: changing verses, exchanging songs, and sharing the instrumental duties here equally. But what makes The Veronicas better artists than Avril or t.A.T.u is that their music isn't just a sugar-rush of pop trash--it might be a little too heavy on attitude or deep-throated rock, but it can grate. They're much more in control of their music than t.A.T.u, so their songs are perfectly crafted for their voices, and unlike the newly blonde Avril, The Veronicas stick to their hair color and don't change the game for an obvious ploy to ride the current teen-pop trends of the mid-2000s. Then again, The Veronicas front-lined these trends, so it's fitting that they are the ones to work on refining them. This alone makes them a rarity amongst their peers, but since all the songs here, whether a vicious attack ("This Is How it Feels"), a sarcastic ballad ("Revenge is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)" or standard issue electro-pop ("Take Me On the Floor") are all executed with style and flair, "Hook Me Up" is simply another great addition to two of the headlining figures in mid-00s teen pop (They still haven't mastered a stripped down, honest ballad yet, but we can easily overlook that).
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Untouched 2. Hook Me Up 3.
This Is How It Feels
4. This
Love 5. I Can’t Stay Away 6. Take Me on the Floor
7. I Don’t
Wanna Wait 8. Popular 9.
Revenge is Sweeter
10. Someone
Wake Me Up 11. All I Have 12. In Another Life
13. Goodbye to You
No comments:
Post a Comment