Little Red - Midnight Remember (2010)

Little Red offer some sunny, romantic, lushly textured pop on Midnight Remember, which begins like Broken Social Scene and grows in bombast to reach for Coldplay, beating neither, but still delivering the goods. For the most part, the record has the sweet, slightly sentimental feel of '70s soundtracks, repackaged for the indie crowd -- sort of like Stereolab did it, but less about the textural interplay and more about honest to God pop, huge vocals, catchy refrains, accessible melodies, steady midtempo beats, and all. At the same time, the music's an elaborate pattern of guitar leads and background keyboards both vintage and modern, and the songs build up from quiet beginnings to larger-than-life choruses, almost like post-rock -- only post-rock was never this catchy. As the record proceeds, it reveals more and more influences, from the Boss' "Streets of Philadelphia" to pre-rock pop-jazz and cabaret music, culminating in a couple of huge Elton John-styled tunes, but the vibe throughout is still closest to Broken Social Scene -- the same intricate, multi-layered stuff made out of simple melodies, the compositional complexity masking the fact that at heart, the guys simply love good naive pop (and know how to make it). Midnight Remember is louder than BSS, but not as substantial -- it's more blatantly kitschy at times, and the flow is less steady; besides, it's odd how something so obviously user-friendly can be so hard to get into at the first listen, simply because there's too much to dig -- but given a chance, Midnight Remember is likely to sink in and prove a lasting threat, like several regular pop records rolled into one package.