Pretty Pretty came to us with a short four-track album entitled Please! which is a fun play on their name. Colorful album art with retro font, I was promised at least two “quiet slow burners” and two “dancey jams”. While they are not striving in any way to put themselves in a genre I was offered a few attempts which were the following: "adult contemporary on acid, Appalachian psych-pop and hyphen rock.”.
I was also informed that the majority of the tracks were recorded in one take in order to capture the sort of casual nature that apparently takes place during a live show which is a fun idea. The songs have an airiness about them. Very rural sounding, the Appalachian psych-pop is definitely present; there are electric elements involved but very subtle. For me, what sells a slow burning acid track is an ever-expanding depth. These tracks are rural sounding, light and not heavy with layers. At a certain point the slower tracks just become too easy to ignore there was nothing roping me into any kind of engagement. I felt I was given a false promise of “dancey jams.” Granted everyone is at liberty to dance to whatever they see fit, but at no point within these four tracks did I feel like dancing. To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure which tracks were supposed to be my “dancey jams” and which ones were supposed to be my “quiet slow burners.” I have no problem with a slow dance jam, but there was no percussion or even cause for me to sway back and forth. Again, I am not an authority on dancing; the dance element may very well have just gone right over my head. There are good, interesting elements here. The tracks were recorded in one take to create the casual feeling of a live show, cool idea. Everything sounds intentional, I didn’t get a sense that things were just thrown together, there was purpose in everything. The vocals were lovely, beautiful high notes, pairs well with the synth and electronic tones, it works. The audio mixing was also well done, very professional, helped put an extra layer on things. I want to say that I appreciate experimentation. I think this album needed more time in the oven. Pretty Pretty has a lot of interesting ideas on what their music is. As of right now, I just feel the music doesn’t fully execute all those cool things they’re trying to deliver. I would be overwhelmingly curious to hear the sound they’re speaking of in full form. I wish Pretty Pretty luck. There’s a lot of creativity packed in that band, that I’m sure of.
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