You Are the Beat
Album | Dream Diary
The pains of being twee at heart.
Brooklyn heartstring-pullers Dream Diary specialize in swooning, Smiths-influenced jangle pop akin to contemporaries like Brave Irene and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Though their promising debut could have easily have been pulled from the back catalogue of Slumberland Records with its indulgence in all things indie pop, You Are the Beat comes via the underdog Kanine Records, discoverer of groups like Grizzly Bear and Surfer Blood. Frontman Jacob Sloan and company pull from a rather limited songbook (Johnny Marr-inspired jangle effects dominate just about every track) with their combination of chiming guitar and hushed, pensive vocals in the vein of The Clientele's Alasdair MacLean. "Bird In My Garden" is just as blissfully serene as its title suggests and "Is He Really Mine?" covers all the bases of lovelorn twee pop songwriting. The best songs ("El Lissitzky", "Paper Flowers") shimmer like glowing bits of post-C-86 guitar pop, though this recipe is spread a shade too thin over You Are The Beat's ten songs. These lovelorn underdogs have a firm grasp of their favorite genre's backstory, but what about its future?
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