It must be tough trying to make it as an American electropop group these days. With the success of Justice and the stateside interest in Fabric music compilations, electronic music is almost entirely Eurocentric. So it’s not surprising to see an American band try to incorporate some subtly European details in its album artwork or press photos to give itself a little bit of leverage. Solid Gold does just that. The collage of bright colors, crystals and laser beams that adorn their EP Who You Gonna Run To? seems like a deliberate effort to make the listener forget the group is based in Minneapolis.
- Brian Merlos
- (Courtesy of Solid Gold)
Who You Gonna Run To? is safe and relatively inoffensive. Opening track “Bible Thumper” plays on a mid-tempo beat with wordless falsetto crescendos. It’s a total rip off of The Notwist’s “Pilot” minus Markus Acher’s affecting vocals. The other two Solid Gold originals on the EP are straightforward if ultimately uninteresting cuts of electropop that slow down the pace to give the boys more time to harmonize. The one bright spot is the Mgatp remix of the title track that plays up the melodrama by successfully adding some surprisingly effective hip-hop stomps and “My Love” synthesizer.
Solid Gold still has a lot of ground to cover if they want to play with the big boys. They’ve got the image down, but that doesn’t really amount to anything. Really, how hard is it to slip on a tight leather jacket and a striped scarf?
Solid Gold
Rating: 2 and a half out of 5 stars
Who You Gonna Run To?
Self-released