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The Submarines are the husband and wife team of singer-songwriter
Blake Hazard and electronic arranger/vocalist John Dragonetti.
Their second release Honeysuckle Weeks is an invigorating exposition
of alt-pop, neo-folk, and post new wave with songs that will have
audiences tapping their feet and smiling ridiculously like kids being
silly. Tracks like "Submarine Symphonika" and "You,
Me And The Bourgeoisie" have contemporary bell chimes and a sea
of pop psychedelics reminiscent of The Flaming Lips. Numbers
like "1940" and "Fern Beard" have a bluesy sway
skewered by a thong of glockenspiel-toned chimes and colored with
swerving gypsy styled violins. The circus-like environment is relatable
to Miwa Gemini, and songs like "The Thorny Thicket"
and "Maybe" have a post new wave medley with a New Order
ring and The Unicorns lightly frothy foliage.
Dragonetti sings lead on the neo-folk tune "The Wake Up Song"
featuring scintillating pop psychedelics with its stems founded in
the '60s and buds sprouting of a modern variety. The acoustic strings
and electro-pop streams of "Swimming Pool" have a sunny
pop friction with verses that resound with optimism, "We've got
to hold on, the water is rising / Everyone spends a little time fighting
the drift back to the deep end / When I asked you to throw me a line
/ That's when you pulled me out by the heart strings." The floral
mix of acoustic-pop and electronic spools on "Xavia" materialize
into contemporary psychedelic waves, and the melodic vineyards of
"Fern Beard" and "Brightest Hour" have starry
embers with the magnetism of The Shins. The songs make you
feel happy wandering with them into fairy-like jaunts.
The Submarines new album Honeysuckle Weeks is tastefully done
pop. It's cute, sweet and charming without feeling contrived or overly
produced. Honeysuckle Weeks follows the couple's debut album
Declare A New State. And though comparisons can be made between
The Submarines and the indie-pop couple Mates Of State, The
Submarines distinguish themselves with a very sunny outlook and fragrant
wanderings which display that there is still something to love about
living life.
-Susan Frances
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