Best Appreciated In Small Doses
Australian band, Montana are a group that have their brain's firmly lodged in pop heaven, creating music that unashamedly harbours desires to deliver the perfect slice of indie pop, unleashing hooks that are usually only found on a pop addled track before mixing in cheery melodies strapped to sun drenched beats. Its bright and breezy pop that will have your feet tapping along chirpily, injecting some much needed sunshine into the winter months before quickly exiting on a stolen Weezer guitar riff.
Following on from their debut album, 'Bubblegum Love', 'Starsign: Tarantula' continues to capture the feel good essence of a Montana track, kicking things off with 'Good Goes Bad', an upbeat number that sweeps past on a sun soaked wave reminiscent of numerous hits that breezed their way out of 1960s California. Its bubblegum pop with a few rock inclined guitar riffs thrown in for good measure that will undoubtedly have you nodding along by the second note and gleefully singing along by the second chorus. From this Montana turn their attentions to 'MTV', or more to the point the fact that basically aren't cool enough to get onto MTV, mostly because there's "no bullet holes in me". Brandishing the same 60s pop smile, 'MTV' playfully adds some high pitched female backing vocals to insure that this is a track for which resistance is futile. Indeed, Montana seem to be out to conquer all by wielding nothing more than an infectious indie tune with yearnings for pop. Hook after hook is strapped to sun doused melodies before being sugar coated in playful goodness. And here is where Montana's problems start to emerge. As refreshing as it is and as charmingly cheery as its façade may be, 'Starsign: Tarantula' starts to seem like a sugar rush gone awry. It all becomes too much and the Australian's originality regretfully blend together, a shame considering how wonderful the tracks are, they just need to be appreciated in smaller quantities.
Not all is sunny in Montana's world though and when granted glimpses into their darker work, 'Starsign; Tarantula' starts to gain a new lease of life. 'Saturday Night' starts out with a subtle chug of a guitar backed threatingly by lead singer Paul Scott as he almost whispers the lyrics. From this Montana go onto to embrace an almost rootsy blues stance with 'Wide Eyed Boy' seeing the group become slightly disgruntled before returning to the safety of their catchy indie pop.
With the mixed gender harmonies of a feel good Magic Numbers track blended with the playful indie cravings of Weezer, Montana are a band to wile away the winter weather to, the only trouble is too much of their sugar coated indie pop can seem like an overindulgence, making 'Starsign: Tarantula' an album that is best appreciated in small doses.