THE CLOSE-UPS: 2am In Flat 3b

The Close-Ups

2am In Flat 3b

© 2006 Carl Green (5060084660427)

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Unsophisticated, sweet and strange bubblegum pop with traces of pyschedelia and 1950's Hollywood.

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notes

2am In Flat 3b is the debut album by one of the UK's least likely groups- The Close-Ups. Dubbed "the indie-pop Archies", the four piece cartoon band are the creation of English songwriter Carl Green and act as a surreal front for his musical partnership with teenage chanteuse Abby Connor.
"I write pop songs but don't want to be a pop star, so I found these kids who do lurking in the back of my head" states Carl by way of explanation of his animated alter egos. "It's a mutually beneficial relationship...I get the power, they get the glory!"
The album contains the highly collectable three vinyl only singles from the last two years (I'm On My Way, Mascara Dave and Felt Pen Steel Shutter), together with eleven new songs. Showcasing the band's blend of bubblegum, quirky pop and psychedelia, 2am In Flat 3b's subject matter includes work place perverts (Kidnap The Boss), unstable mothers (They Drove My Daddy Away), the joy of graffiti (Aerosol Boy) and imaginary lesbian encounters with 60's supermodels (Jean Shrimpton).

reviews

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  • The spirit of pop lives!
    author: Anna Maria- Luna Kafe Website

    Songwriter Carl Green and teenage singer Abby Connor make up The Close-Ups. They're also the basis of a cartoon Gorillaz style band with more members. The cartoon band is a product of Green's imagination, and they get the glory. Complicated? No. The band's chirpy indie pop can be enjoyed, and the cartoon band that adorns the sleeve and booklet is pretty funny to look at. Pictures of the real band also exist. The songs deal with kidnapping your boss and lesbian encounters with (60's supermodel) Jean Shrimpton. You know, fun? The semi-serious They Drove My Daddy Away gives wide room to Abby's helium induced little girl coo. Mascara Dave is bouncy and fun. The indie Gorillaz now recall indie tweesters like Tallulah Gosh and The Shop Assistants. Connor must have been breast-fed their albums. Come On Home deals with shambolic namechecks and chirpy cartoon voices. The spirit of pop lives and is having the day of its life. The Close-Ups take all their pop sass and make the concept work.

  • Charming, eccentric British pop
    author: Blues Bunny

    Opening with Kidnap The Boss, a song similar in sentiment to Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, this 14 track album combines girly, Bananarama style vocals with quirky arrangements to unique effect. Purporting to be a cartoon band (and why not?), The Close-Ups are the work of Carl Green and Abby Connor. Saturday Girl In Bedworld and 20,000 Groups impressed with their sharply observed lyrics and catchy hooks, but the Blues Bunny favourite was the sing-along Come On Home. Whilst rather charming in its own peculiarly British way, this album would be best classed as eccentric. Worthy of investigation if your musical tastes lie outside the mainstream and you appreciate a bit of dark humour. We liked it a lot and so might you.

  • Odd pop a-go-go...lush.
    author: Dom Gourlay

    Cartoon pop stars- maybe they're the future after all. Oh how we laughed when Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn launched their uber-pretentious creations set to a hip-hop backbeat upon us. Certainly no one would have expected other budding artists to follow suit, and least of all a band whose music could quite easily be defined in any dictionary as the ultimate meaning of the word "twee". Make no mistake about it, The Close-Ups might be a 21st Century creation but they inhabit a parallel universe- that of one-time Tallulah Gosh and Heavenly chanteuse Amelia Fletcher, aka the girl whose voice launched a thousand helium schoolgirl soundalikes around the turn of the 1990's. Essentially a two-piece- Carl Green and Abby Connor- plus numerous friends and accomplices at what seems like the quietest house party ever, The Close-Ups may exist in a cartoon world but their kingdom isn't exactly blessed with fairytales, milk and honey. Instead, it's a pastel-shaded, slightly more technicolor place than your Average Joe's humdrum existence, as the majority of the songs on 2am In Flat 3b are a testament to. Amongst the 14 songs on here you get tales of sexual harrassment at work (Kidnap The Boss), lesbian lust (Jean Shrimpton, Dress Code) and odes to dead end towns (I'm On My Way, Felt Pen Steel Shutter). Add to these the ultimate list song Come On Home, probably the only time you're likely to hear the names of Louis Theroux, Betty Boo and Norris Cole in the same three minutes of music, and you've got an album that just about rides the edges between bitterness and niceties in one fell swoop. Persevere with Connor's infantile vocal and you've actually got the most austere soundtrack to your own life you're ever likely to hear. Add your own animation and bingo- nine-to-five drudgery suddenly becomes as panoramic as a rainbow. Lush.

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