Bos Angeles - 'Pretend For You'

Gah how much do I love the music Bos Angeles make. Seeing them on tour with Fear of Men last year further enamoured me with their tremeloy / slash / reverby tones. On paper they could be deemed 'just another buzzband' - one more band described as east coast-fuzzy-pseudo beach boys-surf pop...  etc etc etc. However, fortunately, unless you're a moron we DON'T judge music purely by whats written about it, we judge it by the emotional response our brains feel when those wonderous, carefully considered and expertly played soundwaves hit our inner ear. This emotional response is GOOD when it's Bos Angeles' music hitting your ear.

They're a trio from Boscombe in Bournemouth although sorry boys, the music is so considered, so utterly and recognisabley unique that to my mind the songs must be written in the main by one member of the band. I'm betting the singer. Further inspection their Facebook page confirms that there indeed is a central figure, supported by other band members that seem to have been bought in recently!

THE ARTWORK

The thing about the artwork used for Pretend For You is it looks a little like you typed in the description of their music to Google images and picked the first thing that came up. I actually just did this with the description above and the reults are some amazing bands! The Beach Boys, Surfer blood, Boy & Bear, Beach Fossils all appear, confirming that 'east coast-fuzzy-pseudo beach boys-surf pop' is indeed a great genre.

Three ladies in 50's swimsuits, three different coloured surfboards, all on the beach. Simple and most importantly an accurate representation of the music contained within (or upon clicking in the modern age). This continues the theme of recent songs 'All I Do Is Dream' and 'You're The One That I Want', both awesome.

THE MUSIC

Evoking thoughts of romance and not being yourself in order to win the heart of someone you love, this is a lot more laid back than much of the rest of Bos Angeles current EP and previous singles Beach Slalom and Days of Youth (both ace). It may be more relaxed but it still includes a heartfelt vocal and haunting melody thoughout as well as something which Bos Angeles do best - the catchy chorus. To coin a cliched term, the guitars, vocals and drums are, the varying extents 'drenched in reverb', however not in a 'ooo lets turn the reverb up on Pro Tools so we can sound really current', kind of way. In the same way the Beach Boys used reverb to add a sense of hauntingness to Brian Wilson's melodic yet, in places achingly sorrowful lyrics, so too this works for Bos Angeles.

The rawness of guitars in parts sounds Joy Division-esque with those fairly simple but hugely impactful melodies swinging the song along.

Listen here