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Album Review

Big Deal
Lights Out Mute Records

Article written by Ged M - Oct 21, 2011

Big Deal: Lights Out

First it was the press who fixated on the relationship of 18 year old Alice Costelloe and her older bandmate, KC Underwood, a connection not helped by their cover of Big Star’s ‘Thirteen’ - a great Alex Chilton song with decidedly iffy lyrics. Now it’s Big Deal who are making a big deal out of being young. Their debut album is freighted with all the agonies of adolescence: the unrequited affections, teenage crushes and broken hearts. If it’s not the invitation to “take me to your bed…I wanna be old/ I wanna be older” (‘Cool Like Kurt’), it’s the resignation in 'Talk': “it’s OK/ I’m just a kid…I’ll get over it”. And in ‘Homework’, the singer’s lovelife is interfering with school: “can’t concentrate/ it’s ruining my grades”.

Fortunately, this youthful perspective on romance sounds neither fake nor embarrassingly juvenile but is convincing – mainly down to the way that the duo’s simple approach to the music complements the lyrics and marries form to content. The songs usually comprise Costelloe's (easy-on-the-ear but not stunning) voice, occasionally duetting sweetly with Underwood, backed by electric and acoustic guitar and not much else, and with great melodies shining through a fuzzy background. This is the sort of introspective and reflective sound previously made by the likes of Mazzy Star and Joyzipper. It's a very intimate form of shoegazing, carving no sonic cathedrals or building walls of sound, but using washes of ambient guitar tones ('Locked Up') or a gentle susurration ('Pi') to create elegant moods. And their handle on melody is assured; most songs offset their slightly mournful air with fabulous melodies, the killer chorus on 'Seraphine' being a highlight.

Alice and KC prove a seductive pairing whose debut album might have the same long-term potential as your average teenage liaison but contains enough raw attraction to consume all your attention for the near future at least.

Links:
http://www.wearebigdeal.com/
http://mute.com/artists/big-deal
http://www.myspace.com/weareabigdeal