Mr. Suitcase, "Ours Is A Time For Falling In Love" (2006)
Since I haven't posted about the Pet Shop Boys in a while, I figured I would today begin an intricately-plotted ten-part...
WAIT! Come back!
I'm kidding. Today's post isn't about Neil and Chris, although it's Pet Shop Boyesque. Mr. Suitcase, from what I can tell, is a Swedish band, consisting of either one or two men, who make electropop that inevitably recall another duo. I think this no-longer active blog may have been written by someone from the group -- judging from the fact that the last entry anounces that its successor would be www.mrsuitcase.se, which is however not yet working -- and in fact, features a rather marvellous interview with Neil and Chris. I don't know. I can't figure it all out. If only my Swedish extended beyond the bits I picked up from The Muppet Show.
I first heard of Mr. Suitcase when they remixed "It's Not The End Of The World" by Le Sport, another Swedish electropop duo that I've written about, with whom they also recorded a cover of "Last Christmas." (Those tracks are available at Le Sport's page.) In fact, I'm not sure they're not the same group. I certainly have never seen both in the same room.
Mr. Suitcase further resembles Le Sport -- as well as Permer, another Swedish etc etc -- in the sense that they write bouncy europop numbers with slightly melancholic lyrics that are somewhat let down by (1) production that isn't as shiny as it could be, and (2) rather weedy vocals by their lead singers. To wit: "Ours Is A Time For Falling In Love," which sounds a bit like a Jay-Jay Johanson song (specifically "Because Of You" from Rush); has a lyric imbued with a deep sense of regret and hesitation ("Ours is a time for falling in love/But ours is a mind that was never made up/Hours go by while we're waiting for love/But ours is the time, this is our time"); features, in its breakdown, an ecstatic keyboard bit that makes a concerted effort to actually ascend to heaven; but is not quite sung and produced well enough to be truly perfect. But it's still damned good. After all, if they had it all, they would be the Pet Shop Boys.
Since I haven't posted about the Pet Shop Boys in a while, I figured I would today begin an intricately-plotted ten-part...
WAIT! Come back!
I'm kidding. Today's post isn't about Neil and Chris, although it's Pet Shop Boyesque. Mr. Suitcase, from what I can tell, is a Swedish band, consisting of either one or two men, who make electropop that inevitably recall another duo. I think this no-longer active blog may have been written by someone from the group -- judging from the fact that the last entry anounces that its successor would be www.mrsuitcase.se, which is however not yet working -- and in fact, features a rather marvellous interview with Neil and Chris. I don't know. I can't figure it all out. If only my Swedish extended beyond the bits I picked up from The Muppet Show.
I first heard of Mr. Suitcase when they remixed "It's Not The End Of The World" by Le Sport, another Swedish electropop duo that I've written about, with whom they also recorded a cover of "Last Christmas." (Those tracks are available at Le Sport's page.) In fact, I'm not sure they're not the same group. I certainly have never seen both in the same room.
Mr. Suitcase further resembles Le Sport -- as well as Permer, another Swedish etc etc -- in the sense that they write bouncy europop numbers with slightly melancholic lyrics that are somewhat let down by (1) production that isn't as shiny as it could be, and (2) rather weedy vocals by their lead singers. To wit: "Ours Is A Time For Falling In Love," which sounds a bit like a Jay-Jay Johanson song (specifically "Because Of You" from Rush); has a lyric imbued with a deep sense of regret and hesitation ("Ours is a time for falling in love/But ours is a mind that was never made up/Hours go by while we're waiting for love/But ours is the time, this is our time"); features, in its breakdown, an ecstatic keyboard bit that makes a concerted effort to actually ascend to heaven; but is not quite sung and produced well enough to be truly perfect. But it's still damned good. After all, if they had it all, they would be the Pet Shop Boys.
posted by Brittle-Lemon at
5:14 PM
3 Comments:
Nice song! This maybe nonsense, but I wonder if all these acts wouldn't drastically improve if they got a woman to sing the songs. I feel somehow a female voice it's naturally better suited for electropop.
By
daavid, at 3:26 AM
That interview is a indeed marvelous! I liked that Neil acknowlegded Xenomania's talent, even if only indirectly.
By
daavid, at 2:52 AM
Yes! I also like how Neil talks about the way Eurodisco is the default sound they fall into -- not just because it's not too far from what I said about that sound being a crutch for them, but because I like thinking about them as having a kind of Eurodisco setting, like on a synth.
I don't necessarily think that Le Sport/Permer/Mr. Suitcase would be improved just through a female singer, since the current problem is more that they are bad singers rather than male singers. But perhaps there is something in your point: many of these groups do melancholic lyrics on top of dance beats, and male singers do melancholia -- or rather, we are trained to listen to melancholia -- with some difficulty. Jay-Jay Johanson is great at it (The Knife are smart for getting him to duet on "Marble House": he's exactly what the song needs), and so is Neil. (And maybe Al Stewart, ha ha.) But there aren't that many more men who can. There's probably a whole post to be written about this.
By
Brittle, at 4:19 PM
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