A popular Internet meme of early 2008 featured a seemingly unnewsworthy Australian TV report on a destructive house party thrown by Corey Worthington, a charmingly laconic Melbourne teenager adorned with self-proclaimed “famous” sunglasses. In the video, the bleached-haired ersatz-Spicoli insouciantly evaded the reporter’s reproachful questions with a diffidence that captivated thousands of YouTube viewers.
Although it was not available at the time of the infamous party, my imagination informs me that fellow Melbournians Cut Copy’s fantastic “In Ghost Colours,” which adopts a kindred carefree attitude to Mr. Worthington, must have sound-tracked the adolescent debauchery.
Halfway across the world and in the Northern Hemisphere, as the sunny afternoons become more plentiful, the release of “In Ghost Colours” provides an even better context for American listeners: 2008’s pitch-perfect, breezy summer album.
Over 15 tracks on “In Ghost Colours,” Cut Copy’s employment of lightly buzzing guitar, glimmering synths, saccharine-sweet choruses and crisp production creates a warm and inviting aural environment perfectly conducive to both lazy days and summer house parties. When the subdued atmospherics give way to the bouncing bass and swirling keys on lead single “Hearts on Fire,” you can practically see winter’s clouds parting to reveal the sun’s emergent luminosity.
Cut Copy’s aesthetic is founded in shimmering guitar-pop, but with one foot planted in this tradition, it pivots its other into various strands of dance and electronic music from new-wave revivalism (“Far Away”) to Daft Punk-fashioned jams (“Lights and Music”) to shamelessly cheesed-out ’90s-electronica in the vein of Vengaboys and Deee-Lite (“Hearts on Fire”).
Primary Cut Copy member Dan Whitford’s DJ background may explain the patchwork feeling of the album. Whether mixing polished acoustic guitars and processed, robotic backing vocals on “Feel the Love” or shifting unfolding the chugging verse to sparkling chorus on “So Haunted,” the sonics and arrangements on “In Ghost Colours” remain inventive and playful.
Death From Above Records cofounder Tim Goldsworthy shares production credits with Whitford and certainly deserves praise in helping provide the airy sound of the record. Goldsworthy appears to be on a particularly strong roll in 2008, having already coproduced one of the year’s best dance releases on space-disco outfit Hercules and Love Affair’s eponymous debut.
As on “Hercules and Love Affair,” Goldsworthy smoothed over the rough edges of his earlier production work with the Rapture and the Juan Maclean, creating clean electro-beats that neatly anchor Cut Copy’s whirling dance embellishments.
Cut Copy’s brand of radiant dance-pop often gets lumped into the unfortunately titled “blog-house” genre. However, while “blog-house” torch-carriers Justice and Simian Mobile Disco compose urgent, jaw-clenching French house and slick, psychedelic British electro, respectively, Cut Copy sprinkles on the dance signifiers without overwhelming their foundational guitar-pop. Further, whereas these groups favor irony and self-effacement, the charm of “In Ghost Colours” lies in its earnestness ““ its earnestness to please the listener, whether on headphones or on the dance floor of a rambunctious Melbourne house party, with meticulously constructed pop songs that manage to still convey lightness and accessibility. In short, “In Ghost Colours” is among the best pop releases 2008 has yet to offer.
““ Ross Rinehart