Brick Houses [LP] (import)

Few Bits - Brick Houses [LP] (import)

After a break of almost 8 years, Few Bits — the band centred around frontwoman Karolien Van Ransbeeck — are back with a brand new album: Brick Houses is the follow-up to the eponymous debut album (2013) and 2016’s breakthrough Big Sparks, two records that earned the band support slots for The War On Drugs (twice!) and The Lemonheads on the European legs of their tours. Brick Houses has ten tracks: songs about hope, loss and introspection, like colourful reflections on past and present, where imagination and desire meet. Despite the bittersweet undertones, the album sounds anything but gloomy. Opening track ‘Brick Houses’ is sparkling Indian Summer pop, ‘Future Dives’ floats on a delightful 80s synth vibe, ‘Nowhere In Love’ is dreamy guitar pop and the electrifying guitar on ‘Cobblestones’ hints at Sparklehorse’s epic Rainmaker. Tying everything together is the mellifluous voice of Van Ransbeeck, giving every song a touch of gold and a pinch of Mazzy Star, while the ghosts of Still Corners and Fleetwood Mac are never far away. The first singles of the album — ‘Brick Houses’, ‘Future Dives’ and ‘Cobblestones’ — certainly did not go unnoticed and even made waves in the US, where the influential KEXP became a fan. Brick Houses is perhaps the most refreshing and sunny-sounding album by Few Bits to date, and a fine example of the band’s tuneful guitar-pop music, marking their return after having been missed for a long time.