Review: Blondes – S/T
Blondes – S/T (2012) [RVNG Intl.] // Grade: B
Blondes have, on their new self titled album, once again proven how you can be thoroughly impressed by something while also unquestionably exhausted by it. Their brand of immaculately produced but relatively unfettered house music will wear you down to your core as it simultaneously builds you up for one last furtive head bob or hip shake. Constructed so they could play it live on instruments, Blondes is first and foremost an exercise in time and pace management. I would say its largest problem is that it wins many battles whilst losing a larger war.
Consisting, at least on its front half, of 5 two song suites, Blondes doesn’t have a track that dips below the upper 6 minutes. Zach Steinman and Sam Haar start each song with one simple element, and in classic house fashion, append more and more looped doo-dads onto it with a commendable recklessness, building each song towards several sudden and thrilling climaxes throughout it. Though they seem to start with a blueprint for each track, there is a palpable feel of improvisation across it, partly because no two parts are exactly the same. Much like improv usually goes, this can lead to the highest highs and the most frustrating lows, where the components of a song suddenly fall apart, leaving you (if only briefly) with an overwhelming audial mess. But on the flip side, there are moments on every track (but especially “Hater”, the evil, almost Knife-esque “Business”, aquatic “Wine”, and propulsive “Amber”) that are sublime.
But, as I mentioned earlier, though each little bit may be perfectly paced, as a whole Blondes borders on being untenably large. Especially if you consider that it is also packaged with a backside consisting of remixes from artists like Teengirl Fantasy, Traxx, Laurel Halo, and Bicep. Taken together Blondes comes in at a gargantuan 2.5 hours, but even just the record proper creeps well past 60 minutes. Nevertheless, there’s just too much good stuff here to let that ruin the experience, but excess really flirted with sinking the ship. Unlike a lot of records, Blondes is not best consumed front to back. But you’d be a fool not to take at least a little bite.
