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ShareA shadow has been cast over the once sunny disposition of Cornflakes Heroes. Where the French quartet’s 2006 debut Off With Your Heads! was bursting forth with jangle-pop goodness, their follow-up Dear Mr Painkillers is palpably lethargic if not downright depressing in places. While there are still moments of bubbly indie-pop joy here, such as the opener “Sex On Channel 4” and the catchy casio-beat and trumpet-bleat love song “Let Me Be Your Tamagotchi”, the majority of tunes hover in the shade of shoegaze inertia and Velvets-inspired drone. The highlight “Trigger Dear” is filled with a suicidal menace as melancholy harmony vocals meet tremulous guitar and violin, while both “Is Mother Right?” and “Dig A Hole” lend a dark touch of atmospheric americana to the proceedings. Although this is an adventurous second outing with an imaginative use of electronica and a thoroughly spooky rhythm section, passivity begins to set in half-way through and you find yourself waxing and finally waning. Like the drowsy cat’s purr that closes out the album—sleep beckons.
Rating:
- Multiple songs MySpace
