One Track Mind

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Continuing yesterday’s theme of Scottish bands with a penchant for great pop songcraft is Codeine Velvet Club, a band that was performing what seemed like every other hour at this year’s SXSW festival. After collaborating with Lou Hickey on a track from her last album, Jon Lawler (elsewhere Jon Fratelli of The Fratellis) decided the duo should make a more formal go of things. The pair formed Codeine Velvet Club over a shared love of the golden era of pop songwriting, when brassy horn sections punctuated vocal harmonies and the melodramatic lilt of a tight string arrangement underscored a certain romantic sensibility.

To help bring their self-titled debut LP to life (available April 6th on Dangerbird Records), Hickey and Lawler enlisted the assistance of Belle and Sebastian’s Mick Cooke, who wrote the score for the orchestral passages, as well as a cadre of classically trained instrumentalists and the services of the Gospel Truth Choir. It sounds like an ambitious amount to take under the reigns, but as “Hollywood” proves, Hickey and Lawler are most assuredly up to the challenge.

Codeine Velvet Club‘s first single begins with a blushing exchange between string players before suddenly charging off the blocks, sprinting forth in a blur of baritone saxophones, chugalugging guitars, and precocious percussion. Before long, Hickey enters with her contrapuntal vocal harmonies, setting “Hollywood” swimming in revisionist ’60s glamour. Its choruses are an elegant push-pull between staccato accentuations and sighing string respites, both led by winsome male/female harmonies. On this number, Codeine Velvet Club craft something far more nuanced and advanced than like-minded efforts from acts such as The Pipettes or Lucky Soul; the exceptional degree of musicianship is fully evident and helps elevate this track past mere homage into something substantial and novel.