Brooklyn band Modern Rivals don't really sound like the rest of the scene in Hipster Central. Honestly, Modern Rivals sound like they've been stuck in an 80's time warp trapped over the Pacific somewhere between New Zealand and the UK. Sounding a bit like Lilac Time meets The Chills in the middle of a vast ocean Modern Rivals have a sound that I've not heard in ages.
A bit fey, wispy, and dreamy Modern Rivals really do seem out of touch with what's going on musically at the moment and that's bloody fantastic. Their album, Cemetery Dares, is a Nigel Godrich produced work of dream pop that's as weightless as it is jangly. Filled with rays of sunshine and sparkles, Cemetery Dares glistens at every turn. The guitars throughout much of this record spin candy floss riffs from sugar spun synths and gossamer-like vocals and it's light as air approach makes this record stand out like a beacon in the night. The whole thing sounds overjoyed as newlyweds and as twee as a hop, skip, and a jump in a park.
Cemetery Dares is a wondrously wonderful record that harks back to a less pretentious time when pop music was simply about great tunes that were impossible to forget. It's nice to know that somebody still loves fey and ethereal pop music and that you don't always need walls of distortion to get lost in a dream. Modern Rivals may not necessarily be modern per se, but there's no doubt they have no rival.
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