The Pipettes’ EP reviewed
The Pipettes
Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me
(Cherrytree/Interscope)
The toast of South By Southwest finally come to Chicago in support of this EP, the latest in the Brit-girl retro-soul revival.
Appearing: June 7th at Empty Bottle in Chicago.
Reports from this spring’s festival in Austin and Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me match up: energy seems to bound forth from The Pipettes endlessly. With Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse’s flanks well established, this seven-piece (of which the three singers are really the only visible members) charges up the middle like The Supremes campaigning for the world cheerleading championship. The title track (included with a rather bland video here) pulls the sheen off of Avil Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” for a kitschier look and feel. “I Love You” is a 90-second flash of London sass and ’50s soda-shop balladry, though “Really That Bad” and “Guess Who Ran Off With The Milkman” seem to lose their way in the thick arrangements. No one expects The Pipettes to change the world. They probably won’t even tempt many wallets should there be a second album (the first is already out in the U.K. and arrives here in late August). But since when are “long-term” and “fun” the same thing?
— Kevin Keegan
