There’s a scene from the mid 90s TV show My So-Called Life (which followed the emotional turbulence of teenagers at Liberty High School) where two of the main characters share a moment in the school corridor in front of their peers. Rebel musician and generally troubled lad Jordan (Jared Leto – long hair, moody), gets together with self-evaluating sophomore Angela (Clare Danes – long hair, moody). There’s slow motion, eye contact, inner turmoil, and will he/won’t he tension stretched out over a heartfelt, cod-grunge 90s alt rock soundtrack (most likely Buffalo Tom). But for us, the scene was memorable for one thing – Brian Krakow’s reaction. Brian, the local emotionally stunted brain-box, was deeply in love with Angela (unrequited of course), and for a moment, for a fraction of a second, he thinks Angela’s making the goo-goo eyes at him. But then his face drops as realises she’s focussing on Jordan and he slinks back into the world of watching from a distance. It’s classic teen angst and we were only recently reminded of it by Summer Camp’s excellent track, Brian Krakow, which sums up the character’s feelings in the space of three-minutes and ten-seconds of driving pop bliss.
But then everything on this uplifting debut from London duo Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley has a touch of celluloid teen torment to it. From the album title, Welcome to Condale – alluding to a fictional American suburb similar to John Hughes’s Shermer, Illinois – to the lyrical and musical content. And while it’s easy to get tangled up in the continual cultural referencing, it is, as any decent John Hughes character will tell you (we’re looking at you John Bender), what lies beneath that counts. And in the case of Summer Camp it’s well crafted, elegant and, more predominantly, fun pop songs.
Most of what you get on Welcome to Condale treads on the twee side of pre-prom pop, but the pair are far from one-dimensional. I Want You has a darker edge than most of the tracks on the album, twisting Sankey’s lyrics of violent longing over some throbbing synths that echo the singer’s yearning. Nobody Knows You showcases the power of Sankey’s voice as everything gets bigger – the beats, the vocals, the resonance.
Welcome to Condale was partly financed through crowd-funding site PledgeMusic, where the duo seemed willing to give away whatever came to mind in return for money (a batch of Elizabeth’s chocolate brownies, a three-song set via Skype, Jeremy’s bass guitar). If you gave money and helped the band create this album then feel free to crank your smug factor all the way up to 11 – you helped make a great pop record.
-David Standen-
