Review: Chairlift, Does You Inspire You

Much of Does You Inspire You veers a little too far into silly terrain to elevate it above a well-made and well-performed oddity.

Chairlift, Does You Inspire YouSynth-pop trio Chairlift started out with the goal of making “live music for haunted houses” and there are plenty of spacey squeals and creaks on display throughout “Garbage,” the opening track of their full-length debut, Does You Inspire You, which hits shelves three days before Halloween. The song, however, ultimately aims for more broadly based scare tactics, as its lyrics read like an ecological public service announcement with an even more frightening built-in metaphor for the emotional damage one leaves behind: “All the garbage that you have thrown away…Your condoms and your VCR/Your Ziploc bags and your father’s car…All of your garbage will outlive you one day.”

Does You Inspire You’s centerpiece comes early: Accentuated with the sound of chirping birds and Asian flourishes, “Planet Health” boasts a reverb-y drum-machine loop and squelchy bassline reminiscent of early-’80s synth-pop pioneers like Eurythmics and Grace Jones. And with singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek on the mic, Chairlift is what PJ Harvey might have sounded like had she started making music a decade earlier.

Chairlift can be described as quirky (the primary thrust of “Somewhere Around Here” is that “somewhere around here…there are witches”), but “Planet Health” is fascinating in how it posits health class as some kind of Shangri-La, with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and the Heimlich maneuver likened to acts of affection. “Bruises,” the latest in a long line of bouncy pop ditties to ingratiate themselves into our pop consciousness via an iPod commercial, proves that the band is capable of being poignant without taking themselves too seriously, but much of Does You Inspire You, like the ode to pencils “Evident Utensil,” veers a little too far into silly terrain to elevate the album above a well-made and well-performed oddity.

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 Label: Kanine  Release Date: July 22, 2008  Buy: Amazon

Sal Cinquemani

Sal Cinquemani is the co-founder and co-editor of Slant Magazine. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Village Voice, and others. He is also an award-winning screenwriter/director and festival programmer.

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