THE BIG PINK

Future This
4AD/Remote Control

Looking for that perfect album to blast down the beach roads this summer? The Big Pink have you covered.
Featuring powerfully neon-lit summer anthems that revel in surging synths and hooks that sink deep, Future This is reminiscent of the fun slices of electro-pop that have propelled MGMT, Passion Pit and Foster The People to headlining festival slots.
The crazily catchy Stay Gold, in particular, is the kind of well produced jam that stands up to the best of their influences, a fist pumping bass line anchoring frontman Robbie Furze’s waifish falsetto awash in day-glo electronics. It’s the kind of forward-thinking pop song that many an indie band would die for; Future This, thankfully, has about four or so more to spare.
Aside from trying-too-hard-to-be-a-rock-band in Lose Your Mind, The Big Pink show a remarkable skill in sticking to what they know, be it typical dance-rock sing-a-longs like Jump Music or slightly off-kilter but still pleasantly palatable synth-pop numbers like Hit The Ground (Superman).
However, for all the immediacy inherent in Future This, it’s hard to imagine listening to this album in a different time and place (say, next winter) and still having that instant connection. For better or for worse, Future This is a product of the here and now, but who can be mad at The Big Pink for seizing it for all its worth?

_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD