New Music: The Long Blondes: "The Unbearable Lightness of Building"
Modern art makes the Long Blondes want to...rock out? "The Unbearable Lightness of Building" is the eighth track in a series of original music written about art at London's Tate Modern. Inspired by an untitled 1979 work by Jannis Kounellis, the song renders the artist's charcoal-lined urban landscape as repetitive fuzz-tone bass, distant drums, and shrill guitars. Kate Jackson, frontwoman of the UK five-piece, murmurs here more than sings, name-checking Bauhaus, surrealism, and futurism, plus Milan Kundera. "Nothing can prevent amnesia from happening," Jackson insists, which I totally didn't see in the artwork (perhaps "inspired by" means what it did for the third Dirty Dancing soundtrack?). In any case, the song is eerier and less melodic than most of the Long Blondes' excellent debut, Someone to Drive You Home, at least until an urgent chorus lets the band's Elastica-like charms shine through.
Stream:> The Long Blondes: "The Unbearable Lightness of Building"