College Rock: The Concretes' The Concretes

My city, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is home to over 2000 Hmong, a population begun when the United States made provisions in the 70’s for the Hmong who had fought with the Americans in Vietnam, giving these soldiers a new chance at life outside of Laos. Each summer the Hmong of our region hold a big New Year’s celebration in one of the city parks. (While not actually the New Year, there’s no way to maintain the tradition of an outdoor event in the winter in Wisconsin, so they transfer the celebration to the summer).

As I walked around, taking in the experience, learning so much about Hmong culture, I was amazed by the many tents of vendors selling Southeast Asian music and all of the karoke opportunities. There’s a certain warbling keyboard and drum machine beat prevalent in this modern Hmong/Asian music.

The Concretes’ song “Warm Night” would be right at home at the Hmong New Year—warbling keyboard and drum-machine-like beat blasting out of some vendor’s speakers. Even the accompanying video for “Warm Night” on the enhanced CD works toward this Asian connection, featuring animation of a leopard and his girlfriend, lost in love in the jungle. Except that the Concretes sing in English, they’re from Sweden, and they’re usually associated more with disco and Eurobeats than with Southeast Asia.

“Warm Night” from the Concretes’ self-titled 2004 release has a great backing chorus as the song drifts, floats, and sways. They unflinchingly create use layers of vocals, keyboards, percussion, strings, and horns to create a symphonic pop, somewhat like the sounds coming from Polyphonic Spree and the Beta Band. I suppose there’s also some Italian influence here too with the trilling mandolin.

The album certainly gives nods to the Motown-turned-disco Diana Ross with a song called “Diana Ross” and the borrowed Supremes title “You Can’t Hurry Love.” However, elsewhere, “Seems Fine” seems like the pop-horn beat of English Rock as in the Housemartins.

Yet, the pop playfulness often subsides, peeled back to reveal other tracks that are frail, tentative ballads. “Foreign Country” is like a sparsely furnished upper loft in an industrial section of the city. There’s light coming through all the windows, making it bright despite the gray clouds and smokestack chuggings. There’s pigeons flying through the apartment with their loud, out of place flapping.

Such “sparsely furnished loft” tracks end up dominating the sound of the album, landing it in the College/Art Rock section of the Spectrum. You’re getting much more than one thing from the Concretes. There’s nothing set in stone about what to expect as you go from track to track, but this winter while you lounge around the house on a Saturday morning—sunlight and snow outside—give the whole album a listen.

Thanks to The Concretes and Astralwerks for the review copy.