Beach Baby - No Mind No Money (Deluxe) (2016)

Tracklist

01. Limousine
02. Lost Soul
03. No Mind No Money
04. Sleeperhead
05. Smoke Won't Get Me High
06. Hot Weather
07. Ladybird
08. U R
09. Bug Eyed and Blonde
10. Powderbaby
11. How Lucky You Are
12. Limousine (Acoustic)
13. Sleeperhead (Acoustic)
14. Hot Weather (Acoustic)
15. No Mind No Money (Acoustic)


No Mind No Money is the full-length debut of Beach Baby, an indie rock quartet formed in 2013 by co-songwriters/singers/guitarists Lawrence Pumfrey and Ollie Pash while the latter was studying music at Goldsmiths (origin of Blur). The group seems to thrive on the combination of Pash's musical savvy and Pumfrey's self-taught power chords, offering an album full of hooks and anxious contemplation, at mostly danceable, sometimes fist-pumping tempos. The LP includes all four tracks off their one prior release, the Limousine EP. That record's title track opens the album with vim and vigor, its driving bassline, and drum reinforcements, spiky guitar, and '80s tones reminiscent of post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand (whose one-time mixer Cenzo Townshend mixed the song). Later, the group's debut single, "Ladybird" ("I wanna run away together/Straight from the salty sea"), is one of the more laid-back tracks, with humming synths and gentler syncopated guitar that plays off of rhythmic hand claps and the rhythm section's groove. The lusher chorus has dissatisfied lyrics that repeat "I don't want to think about it." "Hot Weather" and, even more so, "U R" are part the Cure and part the Vaccines, delivering atmosphere and infectiousness. Though there are a couple of slower ballads in the set ("Bug Eyed and Blonde," "How Lucky You Are"), none of the 11 songs on No Mind No Money allow the drummer to leave the stage. On the whole, it's an engaging debut with memorable tunes that should be tried on by fans of any of the above-mentioned bands or melodic descendants of post-punk and Brit-pop.

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