On their debut E.P., Sing Song, The Little Ones deliver melodic guitar pop similar to the work of perennial indie-pop favorites The Shins. However, while The Shins are a group of indie rock veterans who continue to play sold out gigs, crank out polished records, and win the hearts of Zach Braff fans everywhere, The Little Ones are a newly formed and very young quintet releasing their first six track E.P. Part of the charms of Sing Song is the eagerness and starry-eyed optimism that runs through the band’s streamlined pop-rock. They sound like the best garage band you ever knew growing up, the talented bunch of lads destined for greater things than blowing the pants of the kids at the student union. In this light, The Little Ones don’t sound like the next Shins, so much as their younger brothers.
There aren’t any jagged edges on Sing Song, just tons of ringing guitars, farfisa organs, handclaps, and classicist melodies that always glue you to your stereo, and occasionally make you lean your head back, close your eyes, and listen a little closer. “Lovers Undercover” begins with a frenzied rhythm guitar attack reminiscent of a Strokes or Interpol track, and then melts into a swooning bridge melody that sounds like ELO at the peak of their Spaced-out-Beethoven glory. Standout track “High on a Hill” weds some wicked guitar gusto with soaring background vocals and a chorus melody that devilishly tickles you just long enough for you to take a breather before it comes round again. “Oh MJ” is a punchy love song, doused with some washed-out guitar interplay that might draw comparisons to Coldplay if those brits were more men than mice. As streamlined as The Little Ones’ songs may be, they often supplement their solid rock sound with an off kilter Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic that offsets the grandness of their melodies perfectly, as on tops opener “Let Them Ring the Bells”.
The pop pleasures The Little Ones offer may be modest, but in a scene dominated by dance rhythms, Morrissey posturing, folk freak-outs, and Bulgarian sea shanties, Sing Song’s short, energetic burst of anglophile ear candy sounds terribly refreshing. It’s indie-pop whose charm is precisely its simplicity. |