Imaginary People: Dead Letterbox (Five Five Diamonds)
LP | CD | DL
Out Now
7/10
A mix of genres that sees Imaginary People branch out away from their Garage Rock tag, resulting in a plethora of intriguing sounds.
Imaginary People have been making waves across the pond with a critically acclaimed debut EP, and are finally releasing their beguiling debut album. Produced by the wonderful Kevin McMahon of Titus Andronicus, Widowspeak and Real Estate fame. Dead Letterbox captures the bands insatiable sound, they vary wildly throughout transcending their initial garage rock tag almost immediately.
Opener Simple Life, is an urgent slice of indie rock delivered with heart and passion, whilst maintaining an insistent groove that sets up this exciting album perfectly. This dancefloor sensibility and hook-laden indie rock underpins the album, the band seldom touch on the depths of garage rock. The beauty of the album is instead found in the more chilled out tracks.
Agata is the perfect example of this; the delicate all encompassing beauty of the atmospheric track once again paired with the intense and heavily effected vocals. There is also a darker, haunting vibe that is at odds with the brighter and at times more palatable tracks that make up Dead Letterbox.
Yet with so many facets to their sound Imaginary People continue to pique attention at every turn, with the grandiose tones of Gingerbread Girl. The more sinister vibe exuding from the track Dylan’s captivating drawl drawing you in as the blasts of sweet guitar accompany the pounding bassline.
Their genre flitting at times becomes quite tiresome, despite the variety there is little direction, as they touch upon a sweet Americana infused ballad before unleashing a track that would fill any indie disco dancefloor in the form of Fever Nation. Ultimately this isn’t a huge downfall, but when Imaginary People hit the sweet spot, they do so with such an exquisite sound.
Fortunately though they close out on a huge high with the intensely beautiful Stella, by far the most intense track with Dylan delivering his impassioned lyrics. The scarce beauty of the backing track allowing the words to take to the fore, the perfect way to end such a topsy turvy album.
Dead Letterbox is an album that at times lacks focus, and whilst at times Imaginary People stray away from what initially piques our interest. They compensate for it perfectly producing such wonderfully delicate and haunting tracks.
All words by Lee Hammond. You can check out more work by Lee at his Louder Than War author’s archive, he also tweets as @Napzap.
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