I admit it. I love pop music.
Let’s just add some clarity to that statement, while you pick yourself up from the floor. Pop music is a lot of things. It’s melodic. It’s catchy in a way that makes you tap your feet or hum the tune. It’s usually, but not always, sub-four minutes. The Cure are as much a pop band to my ears as Taylor Swift. Pop is not throwaway, though. It’s not the musical equivalent of an airport paperback. That’s muzak. Or Coldplay.
So, now that’s settled, it’s time to talk about a particular pop band, although they may not describe themselves that way. Milo Greene.
They’re pop because they have those catchy tunes that you want to hum, like a lot of their debut album’s tracks, including Perfectly Aligned and Take a Step. The harmonies, the effortless way it burrows into your conscience and lodges there for days. The final track on this record, Autumn Tree, is as captivating as the first notes on opener, What’s the Matter.
Released in 2012, like a lot of great pop music, it sounds contemporary. Yet there’s also nostalgia wrapped up in these songs. It makes sense that the band is comprised of seasoned songwriters, showcasing their craft. It makes sense that they started wanting to write songs that would be used in TV series and films, which possibly comes from their LA roots.
Yet, despite their commerciality and obvious success in their home country, I think they’ve managed to steer clear of the schmaltz, which is likely down to the harmonised vocals alongside obvious musicianship rather than leaning on studio techniques. This means their sound tends more towards peers such as The New Pornographers than it does your average pop act. Just enough indie, perhaps?
There’s authenticity at play here, which when set against the plastic allure of LA is pause enough for thought. Yes, it’s manufactured like all good pop, but in clever ways. The band name came about as they decided to create a fictitious booking agent called Milo Greene so they could get shows early in their career. And inventing this persona, it obviously worked. They’ve since gone on to play Letterman, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
So, yes, it’s pop music. But it’s not. Because like all good pop music it defies the ‘pop’ label as much as it defines it. Yes, they have almost 80 million plays of a track from this debut on Spotify, yet they’re relatively unknown outside their own country.
Give it a listen, you can’t tell me you’re not a fan of pop music, too.