OK, so boundaries in music are blurred. To a certain extent they always have been, but now they are more than ever, and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that. One dividing line that fans seem to rigidly insist upon isn't really between genres at all, it's the difference between mainstream/commercial music (generally frowned upon) and independent music that's not manipulated and arrives at your ears as the band intended, rather than being packaged or produced to fit certain criteria. Sometimes smaller bands will break through the barriers and have success. A perfect example would be Coldplay; a band that went from promising indie chancers who began life on legendary indie imprint Fierce Panda, and then became a stadium-slaying musical leviathan. Their fanbase has obviously gone through the roof, but the indie crowd who bought those early records will likely have disowned them years ago.
Maybe music doesn't have to be like this. Maybe the alternative and the mainstream can mix without snobbery taking hold. If it can then Sweden's Pretties For You have as good a shot at merging these two opposing forces as anyone else. 'Talk' is the first single from their debut album, and put simply, it's quite stunning. You could describe this as indie, but it has huge sales potential as well. A possible comparison could be Anna Calvi who's successfully transcending those barriers, and this soulful, classic alternative pop tune is a match for anything she's released. 'Talk' is driven by powerful vocals, a big chorus, timeless sounding production that would fit a Phil Spector track just as well as it would a Blondie song, but is fresh and current with it. Predicting sales figures is a mug's game when it comes to a new band, but regardless of whether these guys ever hit the top ten, we should get rid of all the snobbery and just hope that music this good can smash its way into the charts. The public deserve this quality, and that goes for casual listeners as much as devotees.
Pretties For You's website
Buy the single
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