If an album's worth were solely measured by how successfully it accomplishes its stylistic goals, then Expressions would be one of the best albums of the year. The debut full-length from the semi-mysterious collective known as Music Go Music-- a collection of all nine tracks culled from the three 12" the band released over the last year and a half-- is an obvious homage to ABBA, the Carpenters, ELO, and other purveyors of the unironic, sugary pop that was a mainstay of 1970s radio. And perhaps not since those bands themselves has someone made such assuredly hooky, dramatically multi-layered tunes such as these. In an era when bedroom-acoustic intimacy and laptop-pop accessibility seem to rule independent music (picking up, thanks to widely available technology, where punk left off with its "anyone can make music" ethos), it's refreshing to hear a band embracing overblown sentiment and matching it with massive choruses and sprawling production.
"Light of Love", the single from their first 12", is still MGM's best song, replete with bouncing "woah woah woah"s, wonderfully cheesy, spacey synthesizer effects, joyous handclaps, and Gala Bell's buttery smooth, echo-laden vocals. But hearing all their songs collected together for the first time, you'll notice that the band isn't content to simply master the epic joy of Scandinavian pop, but also embraces the darker, sadder, funkier impulses of their influences. Both "Warm in the Shadows", with its disco bass and wakka-wakka guitars, and album opener "I Walk Alone", with its churning minor-key synth figure, build shadowy, roiling beds for Bell's smooth, astral tones (often harmonized against each other or simply overdubbed into endless reverberations) for an effect akin to that on ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)". And piano ballad "Goodbye, Everybody" is the kind of simple, sentimental, "Rainy Days and Mondays"-like weeper that ruled the Adult Contemporary charts in 1971, bolstered by Bell's (mostly unadorned) sadly sweet soprano singing clichés like, "it can't be right to feel so wrong," with such earnestness that it will make you nostalgic for a time before such a sentiment was a cliché.
Though the band may disagree, it does not diminish the magic of Music Go Music's time-machine pop to admit who its members are. Though they go by aliases-- Gala Bell, Kamer Maza, TORG-- the band's core is actually comprised of Meredith and David Metcalf and Adam Siegel of gospel-pop Los Angelinos Bodies of Water, and their lineup is augmented (as recent live performances and videos have proven) by members of Beachwood Sparks, Mezzanine Owls, and the Chapin Sisters. I mention this, not to dispel the band's welcome mystery in this age of the overshare, but to elucidate why this blatant attempt at retread feels so fresh. Bodies of Water, even on their sepia-toned last album, A Certain Feeling, are known for three things: the revival-tent fervor of their performances, the goosebump-inducing vocals of their female frontperson, and lyrically, the religious power they ascribe to love. Music Go Music take those attributes and-- to borrow another cliché from rock's past-- turn them up to 11. This makes for songs that percolate with the urgency and precision of Bodies of Water's best, but with an added pop gloss often lacking from their music.
Admittedly, if you own MGM's three 12"s, then there is nothing new for you here. And sure, there is something about Expressions that feels akin to listening to karaoke-- compliments to the songwriters who could so well imitate the likes of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson in their own originals-- but with a voice like Meredith Metcalf's (sorry, "Gala Bell's") singing the sort of addicting, tangy melodies that her briny soprano was made for, even karaoke can be thrilling. After all, I would rather hear Music Go Music's silky, expertly handled faux version of ABBA than Pierce Brosnan's embarrassing verbatim one any day.
