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Label
One Little Indian

Produced by
Bill Racine

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Rating

Levy - Rotten Love
Levy are a quintessentially English sounding band so it comes as some surprise that they’re from New York. Though it probably isn't too surprising given the burgeoning amount of Anglophiles in the US at the moment. Levy's debut album starts with the title track, the epitome of twee C86 music, the shyness and coyness coming through the vocals and the music. It unexpectedly shows teeth in the chorus with a wall of guitars reminiscent of The Wedding Present. Probably the closest references for Levy are the shambolic beauty of The Weather Prophets and the grace of The Go Betweens. Tracks like Matthew, In The Woods and Rivka show this perfectly.
There’s an inherent sadness to the album too. Boy loses the girl to someone else (On The Dancefloor), boy’s best friend is dying (Wednesday) and then there’s the generally haunting Sunday School. All this is balanced out well with more upbeat stuff, the fuzzy You Be Sweet, buoyant See Saw and the aforementioned widescreen pop of On The Dancefloor, which builds into a delightful crescendo. For a debut, Levy have gone a great way to producing a perfect bittersweet album.

Reviewed by: Russell Barker

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