All Soft And Free
When news of The Big Pink-a band supposedly combining the best of 4AD London roughneck sounds (wind tunnel guitar explosions, raw edges and morose sneer) with Factory (love, love, synths, love)-first reached my ears, I immediately hunted down their debut album A Brief History Of Love, fittingly enough released on 4AD. What I found was an addicting, lush but deceptively upfront collection of songs about sex and heartbreak and...well, what else is there, really?
The first American single was, I think, "Dominos", with a fist-in-the-face chorus of "these girls fall like dominos" (and also a totally missed pizza marketing opportunity, someone fucking get on this!), but I fell head-over-heels-onto-face for "Velvet"
"Velvet" starts like Salem but ends like a drug rush (so like the opposite of Salem), pulling on a wrenching uplift that swirls and overtakes with that repeated question "so should I maybe just leave love alone" that goes unanswered.
Further, deeper listens have gold-mined, for me, the song on A Brief History Of Love right after "Velvet"-"Golden Pendulum".
The Big Pink: Golden Pendulum
This one has a false-start, too. Opening with the cats-clawing-glaciers sound of Loveless, what evolves from that initial jolt is something like a pop song the way they used to happen-fast and lush and lovesick. They are trying to break your heart, but in that way where...if they don't succeed? They've still managed to prick you with thorns that'll see you bleeding to death, slowly and blissfully.
If time gone is history
Then this is a victory
A victory worth losing for you
To get what you need
The Big Pink play NYC at The Bowery Ballroom tonight, Dec 3, and The Music Hall of Williamsburg Dec 4
salem, the big pink 
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