Spreading Rumours
Atlantic/Warner
Grouplove’s sophomore effort is a bright, fizzy cartoon of an album. It’s ideal Sunday afternoon drinks listening, seemingly engineered with ‘triple J feature album’ status in mind, and that is both a compliment and an insult. It’s consistently pleasing, lousy with grabby hooks and even genuinely beautiful in places. But it’s very rarely impossible to ignore.
Which isn’t to stay Spreading Rumours never achieves brilliance – these kids know their way around a pop song. On opener, I’m With You and the bright electronica via ‘60s surf pop, Shark Attack, they shift gears to breath-catchingly lovely outros.
On the best track frontman, Christian Zucconi, claims he can’t Sit Still, and there’s a degree of truth to that. Within the spectrum of the decidedly sunny side of the street, Spreading Rumours is a fairly diverse record. From the swirling pianos of I’m With You, to the expansive rock of What I Know to the gentle folk of the closer Save The Party, they touch down in many unthreatening locales. But the effect is fairly insubstantial. Treat this record, then, like a summer fling; fun and invigorating, but fleeting and ultimately ephemeral.
Rating: 3 stars
_ CHARLIE LEWIS
