The Copenhagen 3-piece WhoMadeWho open their fifth album, Dreams, with a pair of über-saccharine songs, each a kind of lyrical equivalent of the "Bound 2" video’s backdrop, dispensed without a hint of irony. “There’s a heart that beats inside of me,” the group sings on the title track’s opening couplet. “Where the time flies, and the stars shine.” The songs are artfully composed, and after a couple of listens, they lodge in your head and stay there. But there’s just no getting over that initial impression, the lyrics representing the most prominent of several small flaws that undermine an otherwise solid record.
Thankfully, the strength of the melodies eventually overwhelms the distractions. Though easily nauseated listeners may have trouble sticking around for "The Morning", it’s the first track that, even upon an initial listen, is able to transcend its lyrics. That’s partially due to a delightful falsetto from bassist Tomas Høffding. But the song is also a beautifully structured slab of pop, built upon the back of grooving bass and a genuinely stirring chorus, and punctuated by some well-chosen guitar chords. “Another Day” also finds the band in a zone, aping Alex Kapranos’ swagger over some distinctly Franz Ferdinand-esque disco-rock.
Though their songwriting may indicate otherwise, WhoMadeWho have a substantial résumé. They’re an experimental power-pop group, and have toured with LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, and Hot Chip amongst others. The latter band is the one they most resemble—the two share the same kind of lurid, almost hyperbolic, pop sensibility, and the Danes are similarly informed by both dance and electronic music, though they also boast the jazz background of the singer/guitarist, Jeppe Kjellberg.
Dreams represents a kind of return for the band. Long thought to be hyper-talented underachievers, as famous for what they could be accomplishing as for what they were, the group straightened up with the 2012 album Brighter, leaving behind their more radical leanings for a clean pop sound*.* The record certainly showed that the band had an ability to get serious, but it also left some wanting the old experimental WhoMadeWho. Dreams, with its ability to shuffle through genres while maintaining a cohesive sound, should please though who were looking for a little more ambition.
WhoMadeWho are blessed to have amongst their ranks the drummer Tomas Barfod, whose 2012 album Salton Sea gave him a kind of name recognition that, at least here in the States, the band itself has yet to achieve. (He recently released another EP, Pulsing.) Barfod’s influence is obvious on Dreams, particularly in the tight-locked drumming that drives standout “Indian Summer”, one of the most natural-sounding tracks here.
But even with all that’s going for it, the album never quite manages to reach equilibrium. Every so often, the band’s facility with the lighter sides of rock devolves into a kind of disco schmaltz. That's the problem with "Traces," which, stuffed as it with offbeat ideas, like droning psychedelic synths and a fake-out bridge, still comes off as vanilla. Then too, there's always the worry that the absurdity of the writing will interrupt the flow, as on "Hiding in Darkness", a too-short disco anthem that turns faux-profound as it considers all the possibilities that darkness affords.
For the most part, Dreams is filled with danceable, catchy music. But when a band—even one with a dance background—attempts to make an album powered by dynamite pop songs, the songs have to be airtight. WhoMadeWho are hovering on the edge of something big—they have all the talent and creativity required to make innovative pop. But with Dreams, they’re just not quite there yet, again.
