I’m only asking for 28 minutes of your time. 15 songs, at least half of them barely make it over 2 minutes each. Frankie Cosmos (Great Kline) is a 21 year old singer song writer and this is her 2nd full length release. I was aware of the first, slightly more aware of the EP that followed but have really taken to ‘Next Thing’. This was released around Easter but and its been a big part of my life since. It feels like I’ve had it for much longer than 4 months.
What you will hear is 15 guitar driven pretty pop songs and beautifully crafted if delightfully simple lyrics. If you can spare the time, to sit and listen with the lyrics at hand it is a great experience. Ms. Cosmos extracts heart lifting significance from the mundane and almost never fails to make me smile. I am sucker for singer songwriters, I love the focus that one person pouring their heart out provides. This is a great example.
I hope you enjoy. As I say, its only 28 minutes. You could listen to it 2.5 times for every ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ or ‘Malibu’ so you have no excuse not to get involved if you don’t like it first time.
Look out for Floated In, Embody, On the Lips, Sinister.
Pitchfork reviews and article if you’re interested?
thisisnothappening.net 
Firstly…Am I the only person that thinks that she sounds like every female artist on the Juno Soundtrack? Just saying.
With me saying this, it isn’t a bad thing at all. I like the Juno Soundtrack. In-fact perhaps that love made this album very accessible.
The first song that caught my ear was ‘O Dreaded C Town’. There’s something about the simplicity of the song, with pretty strong clear lyrics. I do wonder if she doesn’t care about who she wrote that song for.. why did she write it? Much like the first song that got me, the rest soon followed and I like them all. I find myself humming along.
I haven’t read the pitchfork review on purpose. Knowing them they will say something along the lines of ‘it’s great how she put random thoughts into songs’; or something along those lines. For me that’s the limit to the content of the songs.
This is a solid album of folky pop that doesn’t take too much effort. It’s getting played allot at the moment by me.
Only just got my copy (been away), but will get cracking!
This is a rather lovely thing. It’s sunny, sweet, and it zips along. But I do wonder if it’s going to stick. I’ve not had a chance to get it lyrically (yet) so perhaps the penny will drop….. Interesting choice, definitely.
There’s nothing wrong with a sub-two minute pop song; so many fifties and sixties a hundred-mile-a-second rock n roll tunes are absolute peaches on their own and still stand up because there’s they’ve got that indefinable special something. I’m a bit torn with certain bits of this album as a result. I don’t mind the brief tunes but on occasion they sometimes they feel either unfinished or like Ms Cosmos has been soundchecking and quits halfway through. In both cases, I’m left wanting more.
The further along we go, however, the songs are given time to breathe and stretch their legs. On repeated listens I’ve started the album at the gorgeous Sinister (mainly because there’s a beautiful recorder accompaniment throughout reminiscent of sun-kissed Vampire Weekend and this has been the perfect time of year to listen to this) which is my particular highlight. Outside with the Cuties is heart on sleeve intimate and has gorgeous instrumentation and just delights – my favourite track on a sweet summer album I wouldn’t normally have spent time with but am glad I did.
PS if short songs float your boat, seek out In Rooms by Pictish Trail which consists entirely of songs with a 30 second duration. Fifty of them…!
Spent a bit of time with this. And I don’t really know what I think. It lacks a bit of personality for me. I mean, it’s VERY easy to listen to, it washes over you, and then it’s over, and you think – oh, was that it? But could I pick out a song? Not sure I could.
I think part of my problem is that I don’t think I’m listening to artists like this very much right now. There would have been a time when this would have been more up my street. It’s true of any genre, isn’t it? If you’re not terribly tuned in to it, you lose sense of how that kind of music works. We’ve talked a lot of times about hip hop and how dense it can feel if you’re not listening to a bunch of it. Ditto dance music of all kinds. It’s like not having eaten an olive for a year and then eating one and wondering if you even like them.
Anyway, I’ve got the album on again now. I’ve actually listened to it quite a bit. Maybe I’m being kind, it is very pleasant.
Influences I can hear very clearly:
– The entire 4AD back catalogue
– early Belle & Sebastian
– Cate Le Bon (and thus, Nico)
– Courtney Barnett
– and yes, the sodding Juno soundtrack, or any film at all that features Michael Cera.
– slower Violent Femmes
Final thoughts. She sounds quite soporific. I know that’s the vibe with yer Millennials and all that, but I want her to grab the mic at one point and go YES, I MEAN THIS! But instead, she just goes ‘O O O O’ quite a lot and the songs start, and then they stop and change tempo and then they stop for good. And then another one starts. Hey, maybe the next album will have chorusus to go with the verses and then we’ll really be going somewhere.
Oh, another plus: I really like the production. It’s nice and sparse and the instruments are spread out across the mix, so it feels really warm. Great drum sound.