Potpourri Of Pearls
We Went to Heaven
Heavn At Last
Street: 02.11
Potpourri Of Pearls = They Might Be Giants + Beck – Weird Al Yankovic
A concept album of sorts—based on the fact that PoP’s lead singer Adam Brody’s 14th birthday coincided with the discovery of the unfortunate victims from the Heaven’s Gate cult—even if only loosely themed, makes for a bizarre sophomore release. There is definitely a poppy edge to the trio, but the vocoder-cum-auto-tuning chiming in within 30 seconds of opener “Island” seems to spell imminent disaster. In terms of studio effects, the equally annoying “Boyfriend” and “Nico” only further confirm that Brody and co-conspirators Sam Allingham and Emily Bate don’t have that much to say, which appears to take the piss out of the fun that pop (even parody) can sometimes arrive at naturally. The trio’s over-dependency on homoeroticism wears thin quite quickly, and like the fates of those cult members, they seem doomed toward incorporating it too much, rather than bettering their puerile music. –Dean O Hillis