The Lovely Eggs
This Is Eggland

THE REVIEW

The most offbeat garage rock duo in the UK's alternative scene returns. The Lovely Eggs are Holly Ross and David Blackwell, hailing from Lancaster in Lancashire in the northwest of England. From the start, they have established themselves as a band with a provocative and distinctly "British" attitude, as portrayed on screen in the nineties by various filmmakers such as Danny Boyle, Shane Meadows, and Guy Ritchie. "This Is Eggland" is their fourth LP, released last February 23rd, and it's the album that marks a true turning point in the duo's sound, with an enrichment of sounds and shades imbued with shoegaze vibrations and noise fury, yet heavily influenced by a certain pop sound from labels like Flyin’ Nun Records or Elephant 6.

Among the architects of this change, which we could easily define as a step in a maturation process (at least in the sense of broadening their sonic horizons), the producer Dave Fridmann must be mentioned. He is one of the "big names" in the pop-psychedelic production circle and is known for his collaborations with influential groups like Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips. Moreover, there's something of Wayne Coyne’s finest electric pop in this album, where one impactful song after another follows with vigor and easy-listening sounds. At times obsessive with a certain derivative and cadence of the Madchester sound, and with due noisy differences like Neutral Milk Hotel or better yet Ulysses or Thee American Revolution. To mention a couple of perhaps "forgotten" projects from the vast cauldron of Elephant 6.

Clearly not missing is that same verve and humorous, ironic, and provocative edge that has always characterized the sound, image, and conceptual world of a duo that, even here, proudly asserts their belonging to that British punk rock culture of northern England. Apparently nothing special and just a pop-rock album like many others (why not), "This Is Eggland" ultimately reveals itself in its spontaneity as a brilliant work, where the quality of the sound is nothing artificial and at times hypnotic (it's impossible not to mention "Wiggy Giggy," practically one of the best pop tracks of the year), without betraying that rebellious spirit that is expected of it.