Latimer House – “This is Pop”

Irony can be a dangerous thing in pop music. When you make a joke about something you partake in, you submit to the joke. You aren’t above the casualties just because you notice the big picture. Latimer House makes humor of this catch-22 in their new single “This is Pop.”

Although this band is based in Prague, they are made up of a Canadian, an Englishman, an American, and an Azerbaijani. Together, they combine for a standard indie rock quartet with clean pop guitars and a calm Smiths-esque bass line. However diverse their cultures are, these four men came together to write a song about how unchanging the world is: the antithesis of diversity and culture. “This is Pop” is a critique on the static, cyclical pieces of life. Included amongst these pieces is pop music.

As Joe Cook (the obvious Englishman) rants on about how recycled and mundane life is, he actually sounds pretty bored and unenthusiastic. This is a dangerous game to play, as few singers have the suave of Morrissey or Julian Casablancas to be entertaining while telling the world how thoroughly underwhelmed they are. This mood plays right into the point of the song, as he does sound like he’s completely over how pop music “dumbs down the rhyme.” It’s not clear whether Latimer House was trying to be ironic in insulting the style of music they’ve adapted, or if they dissolved in irony while trying to make a statement about music. Based on their other recordings from their new album All the Rage, I think it’s the former.

The sound quality of Latimer House’s recordings are enjoyable and the other tracks on All The Rage are actually much more interesting than “This is Pop.” The other tracks feature different instrumentation and feel like a pop-oriented Billy Bragg. My suggestion to Latimer House is pursue the sound they’ve found in All the Rage without sounding too bored with it.

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Bio:

Prague is the adopted home of Latimer House, whose foundations were  laid in 2010 when drummer and percussionist Ji?í (George) Kominek  (from Toronto) and guitarist Joe Cook (London) booked a rehearsal room  to jam song ideas. Keyboard player Anar Yusufov (Baku) joined later  that year and in early 2011 bassist Michael Jetton (Virginia) moved in  to help nail it all together.

In May 2012 they went into Prague’s Faust Studios for the first of  several sessions with engineer Derek Saxenmeyer to record their  collection of songs, ten of which were selected for All The Rage. The  last track they recorded was their first release: This Is Pop.

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