Bishop Allen
Grrr…

A product of Brooklyn's currently thriving and ever trendy indie music scene, you'd be forgiven for thinking Bishop Allen were a bit of a scenester band, and let's face it, having made a cameo appearance in the biggest "indie kid" film of the year (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist), they probably are. This doesn't stop them from being cheekily self aware in their quirky and catchy pop or from inducing much hip wiggling and finger clicking.

Grrr... is the third full length offering from the core duo of Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, and by their own admission is a throwback to their 2003 debut Charm School. Grrr... comes complete with sparse and delicate orchestration, erratic guitar, charming and tantalizing harmonies and something of a lyrical obsession with nature, wildlife and China. Put together it results in an album that sounds simplistic, yet subtly intricate.

Don't be fooled though, this is cutesy, cheery, sometimes cheesy, and possibly even happy enough to merit a punch in the face from anyone experiencing their time of the month. Yet there's something about this kind of pure uplifting and unadulterated pop that's appealing. Unfortunately Bishop Allen seem to have forgone the tragic and touching moments that made them more than that. It may lack the instances of ecstatic exhilaration of 2007's The Broken String, but Grrr… is a consistently joyful listen nonetheless.

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