Bachelorette (NZ) + Supp.: Anne Lise Frøkedal (solo)

Bachelorette’s nye album : “My Electric Family” ute nå på Drag City Records, Mistletone og Particle Tracks

Bachelorette er New Zealandske Annabel Alpers’ geniale pop-prosjekt. Med lag på lag av smektende synthtoner, på en pulserende beat som er høyaktuell for dansegulvet, skaper hun nydelige poplåter som er både svevende og catchy, tidvis søte og tidvis mer glossy,- eller som en anmelder har kalt det: intricate bedroom pop.

Bachelorette turnert med både Animal Collective og Beach House de siste årene, og spilt support for bla. Deerhunter og High places. Etter utgivelsen av albumet My Electric Family i fjor, var det riktignok på høy tid med egen turné: etter en grundig runde i USA og noe turnering i Europa (hvor hun blant annet spilte på årets mest hypa bransjetreff i Århus: Spot-festivalen), kommer hun tilbake til kontinentet til høsten.

My Electric Family mottok strålende anmeldelser da den kom. Pitchfork ga honnør og godord,- blant annet sa de om én av låtene på skiva, som også gjenspeiler resten av albumet: “With her cool and kittenish alto, Alpers is a credible indie-dance diva and the song’s melody is memorable enough, but what makes “Head” special is its final minute’s critical mass of layered vocals glinting and somersaulting through space. She may fear becoming a machine, but when Alpers folds herself into the electronic process, the results are delicious, even ecstatic.” – Amy Granzin, Pitchfork

4/5 stars, Mojo Magazine, Sept. 2009
“… Annabel Alpers (is) a uniquely engaging oddity who captures NZ’s sense of space and seclusion. Her debut, Isolation Loops, was just that, recorded in the company of vintage machinery over winter in a remote cottage, and though My Electric Family ropes in fellow musicians and feeds off warmer pop currents, it still sounds utterly removed. Alpers’ flighty vocal is the female equivalent of Syd Barrett and the multitracked harmonies a Spectorish touch, but there’s as much ’60s Joe Meek, ’70s post-punk (Mindwarp recalls Girls At Our Best’s jaunty exuberance, Long Time Gone the fragile mantras of Young Marble Giants) and ’80s/’90s too (Her Rotating Head occupies the giddy space between Yazoo and Stereolab) . A real treasure”. Reviewed by Martin Aston.

U.S. Associated Press. Reviewed by Jake O’Connell
“Annabel Alpers has put New Zealand on the tech-pop map. Recording as Bachelorette, her first album for the Drag City label is a pop treatise on technology’s perpetual intrusion on society. Titled “My Electric Family,” the record takes aim at an increasingly computer-reliant population. Her method is the catch. As a student of computer-based composition, Bachelorette makes use of traditional instruments, but deploys mostly electronic sounds. Like Kraftwerk’s “Computer World,” she uses the very devices she’s critiquing. The hazy doo-wop of “The National Grid” explores the urban existence; backing vocals inch the rhythm along, giving the feeling of walking on a crowded sidewalk. The brass section by the Royal New Zealand Air Force Brass Band on “Dream Sequence” plays like a sound-off for more physical activity. Disconsolate ballad “Where to Begin” poses the question, “Will this digital obsession ever end?” Again, Alpers’ lyrics articulately punctuate the situation: “You stay in your room/ On the computer/ Observing strangers/ Ignoring those around you.” “Her Rotating Head” is synth-pop on par with other outer-echelon divas like Annie (Norway) and Robyn (Sweden), but instead of a bubble gum theme, Alpers subliminally rails against objectification by likening the female side of a romance to a robotic doll. Using pop music as a vehicle for introspection, Bachelorette details the benefit and detriment of technological evolution, making one of the year’s best records in the process.

Pitchfork Review, Bachelorette: My Electric Family [Drag City; 2009]……..7.5
“However opaque some of her ideas, Annabel Alpers is transparent when it comes to album titles. The New Zealander’s last release as Bachelorette, 2008′s Isolation Loops, was indeed a solo affair that, with its crackerjack melodies and lush, layered self-harmonies, made as much gorgeous electro-pop noise as any one-person project, but also erred on the side of solipsism. On that record, Alpers probed evergreen themes of loneliness and alienation via technology, peeling off lyrical barbs about vacant modern relationships (memorably in “Duet Minus One”, “I went to his house/ He offered me food/ I only accepted tea/ Because it’s gluten-free”) in her aloof, robotic lisp. Her new LP, My Electric Family, attempts to break the self-referential loop, opening up emotionally and expanding Bachelorette’s circle to include some unexpected sounds and– perhaps more important symbolically than in fact– other musicians. Opener “Instructions for Insomniacs” signals this shift immediately with rhythmic, repetitive guitar strumming, Alpers’ bare voice, and the unlikely strains of pedal steel. The song soon dusts itself off and climbs on the backs of a looped electronic flute figure and Alpers’ multi-tracked ahs to a glorious crescendo. The new players’ rootsy influences provide welcome texture to the project’s typically synthetic mixes, but “Insomniacs”‘ slow build and kaleidoscopic explosion is already something of a Bachelorette trademark. Alpers repeats the trick on the otherwise dour, sample-cobbled track two, “The National Grid”, and later by layering keyboard lines, percussion, and finally boisterous horns, on “Dream Sequence”. “Her Rotating Head” is one of several songs on the record that sweats with disco fever, nostalgic, disembodied handclaps and squiggly-line analog synths included. With her cool and kittenish alto, Alpers is a credible indie-dance diva and the song’s melody is memorable enough, but what makes “Head” special is its final minute’s critical mass of layered vocals glinting and somersaulting through space. She may fear becoming a machine, but when Alpers folds herself into the electronic process, the results are delicious, even ecstatic…”

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bachelorette/64244807149

http://www.dragcity.com/artists/bachelorette

http://www.myspace.com/bachelorettepop

Anne Lise Frøkedal har opparbeida seg en innholdsrik og kritikerrost historie som artist, og nå er hun først og fremst høyaktuell med rykende ferske skiver fra sine to hovedprosjekter: Med I was a king slapp hun nettopp Old Friends, som har fått strålende kritikker over hele linja ( sjekk anmeldelsene: NRK, Dagbladet, Aftenposten, Dagsavisen ), og i skrivende stund er hun midt i (internasjonal) lansering av skive nummer to med Harry’s Gym, som har release i Norge 6. september!

Anne Lise Frøkedals mangfoldige repertoar gjør henne vel så interessant uten sine vanlige band-kolleger, og på Mono stiller hun solo som support for Bachelorette. Det forventes et mer nedstrippa og intimt sett

Konserten er en del av Konsertforeningas serie (…) og er støtta av Norsk kulturråd og Fond for utøvende kunstnere.

http://www.konsertforeninga.no