Does You Inspire You

Featuring in an Apple iPod commercial is a sure fire way to get catapulted into the mainstream, and it would seem that, as a fleet of fourth generation iPod Nanos in every colour of the rainbow glide across the screen to the saccharine beat of ‘Bruises’, Chairlift were headed in the direction of those pop polluted waters. Sweet and uplifting as the Apple theme tune is however, it is no indication of what to expect from Brooklyn trio, Chairlift, on their full length debut, Does You Inspire You. In fact, ‘Bruises’, while undeniably catchy, sticks out like a sore thumb wedged amongst a collection of 80s inspired songs that span a sea of strange lyrics and haunted soundscapes.

When Chairlift formed in 2005, founder members Aaron Pfenning and Caroline Polachek intended to write and record background music for haunted houses. Instead they channeled all their sinister energy into a record that is rampant with spooky undertones. Kate Bush comparisons are not entirely far fetched. Polacheks’s wailing vocals, soaring over harrowing synthesisers, just stop short of resurrecting Cathy and Heathcliffe from the murky moors of Wuthering Heights with their melodramatics. ‘Earwig Town’ is especially eerie. “They burrow in through your left ear/lay their eggs and crawl out the right” is sung through the harmonised hushed breaths of Polachek and Pfenning, as violent keyboards and harping synths conjure an atmosphere of being alone in an abandoned church.

The haunted house theme runs consistently through the record. ‘Territory’ sounds off like a church organ, reminiscent of early material from PJ Harvey, as is the next song, ‘Make Your Mind Up’. Even the country and western duet ‘Don’t Give a Damn’ has shivery moments of high pitched wailing that would easily blend into a Disney score; think Sleeping Beauty lying unconscious in a dimly lit room of the castle, with a chorus of sobbing fairy godmothers hovering by her side. But it’s not all doom and gloom and poison apples. Apart from the obviously light hearted ‘Bruises’, ‘Planet Health’ is pure 80s; decadent with twinkling bells, oriental chimes and a funky bass, featuring absurd lyrics about the food pyramid, deserts of vitamins and intercourse via the eyes. The even stranger ‘Evident Utensil’ alerts us to the apparent fact that “the most evident utensil is none other than a pencil”, radio friendly in a B52 kind of way and well received as a single, but weak when compared to the darker, less pretentious tracks like the previously mentioned ‘Territory’.

The latter half of Does You Inspire You is without a doubt the better half. An instrumental in the form of ‘Chameleon Closet’ flows into the final track, ‘Ceiling Wax’, ending the album on a sombre note; the words “my time is come, my day is done” resounding in the air, even as the music fades. Despite the odd try-hard track on the record, Does You Inspire You is a solid body of work that sounds strangely familiar but at the same time, utterly original. It will be interesting to see if this threesome can progress from such an inspiring debut, but if the next one’s a flop, they can always go back to Plan B- creating soundtracks for haunted houses and putting banshees everywhere out of business.