Whilst it’s often held up as a badge of indie-pop honour to be ramshackle, chaotic and – how to put this delicately – not overly bothered by things like ‘being in tune’ or ‘well recorded’, there’s a fine line between amiable artisan naivety and, well, just sounding a bit rough. Secret Rivals have danced from one side of this line to the other regularly for the couple of years they’ve been around, as they’ve honed and shifted their sound to, presumably, make what they play sound like what they want to play.
On this single, where once were rough-hewn edges there is now a certain level of refinement and, for want of a better term, slickness. ‘Once More With Heart’, has a new-wave-tinged bassline and that ‘uptight’ sound favoured by Young Knives, Futureheads or Black Hats. It takes the typically flat/atonal-yet-listenable vocal style beloved of indie-pop acts throughout history, doubles it up with dual male and female lyrics and throws all that into a speedy and energetic mix. There are no great surprises, and this is not reinventing anything, but Secret Rivals do well on it – any indie-pop fan worth their hairslides and Huggy Bear badges can’t fail to enjoy the doubling up of hi-hat tempo (a la many of the best pop songs), and the vocals taking a melodic lead and provided the backbone and blueprint for the sound. Some keyboard lines seem rather superfluous, but as a whole it’s a nifty slice of upbeat fun that swiftly pops in, ruffles hair and then skips happily out of the door.
‘I Know Something’ extends the template of ‘Once More With Heart’ in some interesting directions. Initially, it sounds more subdued, considered and refined, with guitar melodies providing character and female-only vocals – for the first half, at least – sounding more heartfelt, sadness-tinged and effective. It’s almost a shame that it picks up halfway through to become fuller and less moody. Whilst this hints at a growling moodiness, a bit of an edge, it keeps the noise reigned in.
These are two very effective pop songs, carried mainly by the vocal style and falling just on the right side of the oomph/aaaah barrier between noise and cuteness. It might be nice for Secret Rivals to paradoxically inject a bit of chaos back into their music, to see if they can genuinely step out of their comfort zone and take this indie-pop template into areas that are perhaps darker or more unique. As it is though, it seems apt to end with a simple phrase: “don’t stop, indie-pop”.