The Ballet – Bear Life
December 7, 2009
Greg Goldberg’s approach to making music feels like trying to date a totally eligible, totally aloof bachelor. I want more but he rarely sends me anything. He and his band, The Ballet are all busy people – Phd’s, new families and living the Brooklyn life have prevented them from touring outside of NYC with any regularity, but two albums in they make some of the best indie pop this side of McCarren Pool. The latest, Bear Life, gets a boost in production, replaces their past string arrangements with synth lines and boldly blasts out of the lo-fi charm of their first, Mattachine! That one sounded like the best possible outcome of inviting your music school friends to play cello in your folk band, and the results were like DIY interpretations of If You’re Feeling Sinister. For Bear Life, keyboards have inherited that riff-making responsibility, and thankfully the transition is seemless. If continuity is the intention, and it certainly sounds like it is, it might be the precision in orchestral detail that makes the 2nd outing sound a lot like the first. For instance, you can easily swap out the keyboard melodies for their previous organic sounds, however, a timid step forward is still exciting when you are looking for something real, no? Song effects and layers push the chords into solid “arrangement” territory and the change is satisfying. Single-worthy entries like “House on Fire” and “Chinatown” carry a pop torch handed down from OMD and Stephen Merritt alike, even if they don’t stray too far from their favorite minor keys. Greg’s bedroom croon hasn’t gotten out of bed yet, either–his sexy, sleepy rasp makes the most of his limited range and each listen reveals a more confident take on his personal growth and intimacy. Unfortunately, the biggest chance taken on Bear Life doesn’t reap the rewards. “Personal Transformation” features Scott Matthew on vocals–he sang the entrancing folk songs in John Cameron Mitchell’s Short Bus- but this Ballet track buries his subtle, Antony-like inflections enough to warrant a subdued retake. That said, the misstep is entirely forgiven; the nerdy head-bobbing going on a date with The Ballet gets you is the stuff you make personals ads for. This being their second record in almost four years, who knows when you’ll see them again, soak it up now.
You can download the first single, House on Fire over at The Pirate Ship, Bear Life is available for mail order and itunesing as well.
