The above is the sleeve to a minor hit single in late 2009. A single that I quite enjoyed. It was catchy but somewhat disposable in that I wasn’t fussed about chasing anything else up.
mp3: The Big Pink – Dominos
I’m posting this as I was really surprised to see that The Big Pink are playing a gig in Glasgow in the middle of February. It’s part of a UK tour taking in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds. I had assumed it was a comeback tour, as I’d not heard anything of or by them since the hit single (#27). In some ways it is, but given they never really seemed to break-up, it’s maybe more accurate to say there has been a lengthy hiatus.
The Big Pink formed as a duo, consisting of Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell, in 2007. After just one single on a small indie label in 2008, they were signed to 4AD Records. The NME was soon championing them, declaring them as best new act at an award ceremony in early 2009, even before they had released anything on 4AD. Around the same time of the award, they recorded this track as a contribution to a NME giveaway called Pictures of You: A Tribute to Godlike Geniuses The Cure:-
mp3: The Big Pink – Love Song
Fair play for such a different and uncommercial take on what has long been regarded as one of the great indie, guitar-based singles of all time.
There were two flop singles before Dominos was a hit in October 2009. It had next to no impact on the album sales as the debut, A Brief History of Love, had come in one week at #56 and then promptly disappeared from view.
4AD continued with their backing and a second album, Future This, was released in January 2012. Two pre-album singles had sold poorly, so it was no surprise the parent album failed to make it into the Top 75.
A year later, it was revealed that Milo Cordell had departed from the band. It seems that Robbie Furze was determined to continue and that production got underway, with a range of guest musicians, for a proposed third album.
Nothing emerged until 2016, and that proved to be a one-off EP for a small label.
Fast-forward to 2022 and The Big Pink are active again, this time as a trio with Akiko Matsuura and Charlie Barker joining Furze, all described as multi-instrumentalists. A new album, The Love That’s Ours, was released last September, and is the record the trio will be touring later this month. Three singles have accompanied its release. This is the latest:-
I think it’s fair to say they are a totally different sounding band these days…..however, I’m not all that enamoured by the new sound. Maybe it’s just me.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 