The Wombats "Little Miss Pipedream"
With tongue-in-cheek, pop culture-savvy lyrics flanked by jubilant guitar riffs and drum rolls, The Wombats’ ride a dangerously thin line between being superbly clever and extremely annoying, but for the moment, their repetitious brand of wit-heavy indie pop provides a refreshing temporary break from our less interesting reality. How can you not get a kick out of a hook that tries to lift spirits with it’s ironic encouragement to “dance to Joy Division” or the narrator’s desperate need to escape rom-com cliches on the “Bridget Jones”-dissing “Kill The Director”, especially when the words are paired with such enjoyable music? But what happens when the band wants to deviate from upbeat, pogo-friendly spunk and attach their lovelorn lyrics to something a bit more lethargic? Could the lack of energy exposing not-all-that-good singing and beginners’ musicianship kill all the appeal?
“Little Miss Pipedream” finds a man obsessing over his dreamlover from a distance. He memorizes her daily routine (“She works in a dental practice 9 ’til 5, how does she manage?/ Considering her nights don’t pass out ’til 3″), walks her home (with a couple blocks in between them, of course) following a night of Tequila shots because “London town’s not built for me or you”, and when he doesn’t get the reaction he yearns after sending her love letters, he comes up with the conspiracy theory that the mailman is trashing his sent mail because he’s in love with the girl as well.
Pretty “do-do-do” background spots, a softly chugging rhythm and elementary keyboard notes melt away the man’s craziness with it’s tender melodicism, and when he shrugs off her skanky ways (“I don’t mind that she gets hammered and goes home with other guys”) and basically admits that she’s probably too good for him anyway, you really end up feeling pity for the creep.
There’s no catchy hook to drunkenly chant along to so “Little Miss Pipedream” will still lose some fans in the shift to sappy balladry, but the song’s child-like, five-cent studio crafting and touching stalker-boy lament proves that in the translation to slower material, they’re still as strong as their more glee-inducing singles. Possibly a bit stronger since, something as offhandedly precious as “Pipedream” probably won’t become so grating after a million listens.
DL: “Little Miss Pipedream” (YFH)
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