Australian Griffin James proves it: anyone can do this after all. Before the accusation of a poisoned compliment starts making the rounds, an explanation should be added. As Sans Merit, Griffin may not have assembled the most high-grade equipment around him for his second album either, in order to record his noisy bedroom dream pop, and he does not need the biggest or most conspicuous melodies for it. What is meant is this: in the music itself, between the notes and in the detail, lies what distinguishes it. And what, in the end, is everything worth looking for there. The how as an answer to the what.
It is knowing that the ringing guitars in »The End« have to remain a little louder than the vocals, which are used here more as a surface. It is knowing that the expansive intro in the The Cure-meets-DIIV hit »Civil« creates such a hypnotic pull that he would rather let the whole thing run longer than one might think at the beginning. Griffin James is someone who – all right, let us dramatise a little – would probably assemble the fuzzy noise-pop hits of the season for you on a tin can and with a pocket calculator, hits that, in his hands, are allowed to be more than the sum of their individual parts.
Trolley Polly
