Everyone, get your crochet beanie and chunky owl necklace out of the donate pile. We’re talking about late-2000s indie pop, whether you like it or not. Are these the best indie pop albums of the late 2000s? I wouldn’t say so. But are they still pretty good considering all the other stuff that was coming out at that time? Yeah, they’re not bad.
‘Aim and Ignite’ by Fun.
A lot of us like to dunk on Fun. for being the quintessential Millennial indie pop guys. But they did give us “Some Nights” and “We Are Young”, which have aged into their cloying sentimentality pretty well. Before that, however, they debuted in August 2009 with Aim and Ignite. This album featured “Be Calm” as the opening track, which was sort of like a precursor to “We Are Young”.
The final chorus of “Be Calm” is the real heavy hitter. “Oh be calm, be calm / I know you feel like you are breaking down / I know it gets so hard sometimes / Be calm / Take it from me, I’ve been there a thousand times / You hate your pulse because it still thinks you’re alive and everything’s wrong / It just gets so hard sometimes / Be calm, be calm.”
‘Volume One’ by She & Him
Nothing says Spring 2008 like Volume One by She & Him. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s indie-twee-pop project didn’t make the most involved music. But its retro simplicity was what drew people in. Plus, the obvious flaws in Zooey Deschanel’s singing voice just added to the strange charm. I admit, I had both Volume One and Volume Two on CD and listened to them a lot. I was going through a twee pop phase, whatever.
The standout track on Volume One has to be “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?”. It’s a bubbly, cutesy little tune about liking someone a lot and wanting to hang out with them, but not wanting to make the first move. “Why do you let me stay here / All by myself / Why don’t you come and play here / I’m just sitting on the shelf”. As if saying, “Hey, why don’t you ask me out? I’m just sitting here with nothing to do!”
‘Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future’ by The Bird and the Bee
Indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee released their second album Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future in January 2009. This album is one of the better ones that came out of late-2000s indie pop with a hint of twee, and it holds up surprisingly well today.
That longevity has a lot to do with the layered styles on the album. For example, “My Love” is a quintessential 2009 romantic pop song, while “Witch” is a luxurious swirl of vintage style. By utilizing a range of stylistic elements, the duo created a timeless collection of indie pop delights.
Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic
The post 3 Late 2000s Indie Pop Albums That Just Scream ‘Slouchy Scarf and Mustache Tattoo’ appeared first on VICE.
