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Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts
| Spin |
| Trading punk squawk for kaleidoscopic pop, this London trio’s second album gives bassist-singer Shingai Shoniwa a deserved platform, and she flaunts an aural star power as striking as her glamazon thighs and sky-high hair. Shoniwa is both impulsive and precise: Every string-swept disco flourish or arena-rock guitar break heightens an unflappable poise that bypasses rote R&B melisma for soul-shaking celebration. Bodacious U.K. hits like “Don’t Upset the Rhythm” illustrate how to quirk up the mainstream from within: Turn your pop art into a party, and cross every color line....full text |
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| Yahoo |
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Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (Friday April 24, 2009 11:36 AM ) Released on 20/04/09 Label: Mercury Even as the first angular, punky releases from the Noisettes' 2007 debut, "What Time Is It Mr. Wolf?", were earning the London trio underground approval and a place in the same feisty female fronted indie bracket as The Gossip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and New Young Pony Club, there were hints that such quick categorisation wasn't playing well with them. No sooner had they started working on this follow-up than guitarist Dan Smith was warning that the new album would shock anyone who'd written them off as "a garage rock buzz band." On the strength of the first two singles alone, it's clear he wasn't joking. Certainly, the title track's emergence as a sunny and sweet rock'n'roll shimmy, albeit one with plenty of noisy guitar come the chorus, paved the way for a far bigger, more mainstream Noisettes. A notion which the second single picked up and ran with. The unavoidable, "Don't Upset The Rhythm (Go Baby Go)", a slick and shiny slice of disco fuelled indie-dance, complete with synths, Blondie-esque bass, pulse racing triangle and a chorus worthy of its top 5 chart status, was a grade A crossover hit. The dismantling of their old lo-fi, niche image and building of their new global potential continues with the rest of the album. "Sometimes", with its hazy Corinne Bailey Rae-isms, is an unexpected yet lovely coffee shop playlist contender. The broken hearted reflection of "24 Hours", a melody as retro as singer Shingai Shoniwa's bouffant hairdo and vintage vinyl voice, comes with all the swimming production of a Smashing Pumpkins record. "Beat Of My Heart" struts to a polished version of their debut's spiky groove, but next to the mournful introspection of "Atticus" and Winehouse/Ronson skip of "Never Forget You", the chances of mistaking these Noisettes for a garage rock buzz band are non-existent....full text |
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| Pitchfork |
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Noisettes' first album, What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?, was much better in theory than execution. For every rager about pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe's deserved place in the pantheon, and for how much Noisettes singer Shingai Shoniwa channeled the rowdiest chicks to ever rock a mic, the strong magnetic lure of assembly-line modern rock pulled the album toward the same bland end of the spectrum that claimed CSS last year. But for their second album, Wild Young Hearts, the gang seems to have landed on "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" on the career-path-Wheel of Fortune, and chose to compress that trio's time frame-- sneaking in the dance jam with the "Maps" and "Cheated Hearts". Sure, Wild's cracks are still caulked in with variations of 2007's theme. But if Noisettes' goal for the album was to be better and more adventurous than the debut while retaining the awesomeness of their meal ticket frontwoman, they nailed it. At her best, Shoniwa establishes and then pushes through her fears, and her optimism and strong vocals combine to make opener "Sometimes" the band's best song yet. It's a simple folk piece with a sunny melody and optimistic disposition, but once it gets taken to church after the first chorus, it becomes clear that good things could happen if someone would introduce her to Mark Ronson. On their own, though, the band's retro-curiosity is more often than not matched with pop savvy, making for a solid record and a few downright good songs. "Every Now and Then", "Never Forget You", and "24 Hours" brush up effectively against 1960s soul, lacing in modern flourishes without overdoing them. The title track is a spry, jazzy singalong that, to its credit, stays on its tracks when the mall-punk guitars burst through the doors on the chorus. "Atticus" is a muted groover that lets Shoniwa get her Harper Lee on for a minute. For its part, latest single "Saturday Night"... wait, is that a whiff of electroclash?...full text |
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