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Jun 03, 2009 Web Exclusive By Kyle Lemmon

In the early 1980s, the hallowed Glasgow School introduced a cadre of smart pop bands to the world, Orange Juice being its top scholar. The Glaswegian quartet Bricolage is the latest addition to that storied tradition. The band may have very little to do with the musical term of the same name, but they do try so very hard to approximate its adventurous ethos. Plenty of sharp guitar lines from Postcard Records and Vic Godard’s playbooks buttress Graham Wann’s heavy accent. All of the instruments are clean and high in the mix, which is definitely a wlecome sign to ears that have heard any of the recent glut of no-fi/lo-fi acts. Bricolage is not a wholly miscalculated concoction to swallow, even when it’s all sweetened with lifted Brian Wilson harmonies. Their earworm debut single “Footsteps” proved to be as infectious as the H1NI flu: all ringing guitars and fluid melodies. The nostalgic aesthetic remains for the self-titled LP (reissued in the U.S. via Slumberland). “Bayonets” revels in the soft-focused hopefulness of adolescence, while “Plots Are for Cemeteries” is a wisecracking one-off that buoys the track’s inherent dramatis personae. Ultimately though, Bricolage reads as a museum piece to a fledgling band’s idols. There are aspects to briefly admire but nothing that will create an exhibit of its own.

Author rating: 6/10