There's something resolutely old fashioned about the kind of indie that Frankie Cosmos cranks out. The group work their way through the 17 tunes on Different Talking, their new Sub Pop long-player, with an energy that takes a listener back to an era when alternative music was sorta celebrating something outside the mainstream, something maybe a bit more lively than the staid and obvious stuff one got stuck hearing on the radio.
The lively "One of Each" is a gem, even as the lilting "Porcelain" serves up one of the best mid-tempo melodies on this entire record. "Vanity" is another real highlight here, with the tune having an almost Joni Mitchell-in-the-Seventies-vibe to it. Lots of Different Talking is "Against the Grain", to quote another winner here, and the group have a youthful, barely-coiled exuberance that makes this music oddly invigorating. It's hard to listen to this one and not smile, you know?
The members of Frankie Cosmos -- Greta Kline, Alex Bailey, Katie Von Schleicher, and Hugo Stanley -- keep this moving with real momentum. In other hands, 17 songs would result in a bloated double album. Here on Different Talking we get a relatively tight record, though one stuffed with ideas. Without lagging for a second, the album maintains a smart pace, and pleasures are delivered. This is a record that sort of won me over with its insistence on serving up indie with real heart and charm.
Different Talking by Frankie Cosmos is out today via Sub Pop.
[Photo: Pooneh Ghana]