Madlove – ‘White With Foam’ Album Review

Meet Madlove, a band put together by Trevor Dunn, former member of Mr Bungle and released on Mike Patton’s iconic Ipecac label. Featuring Sunny Kim on vocals, they make an art-rock noise very different from any other female-fronted band out there.

 ‘Rats with wings’ sets out the band’s stall with hideous time signatures underpinning the guitars and a keyboard sound that veers unsteadily between genius and someone running their fingers down a chalk board. It’s a tactic that almost detracts from the fact that this is, in its own twisted way, well crafted pop music in a rock vein. ‘Thread’ bizarrely recalls the knight rider theme tune before lurching into a staccato guitar riff which pulses under sunny Kim’s mellifluous vocal. It’s a great track, however disconcerting, and the melodies are tight and memorable throughout. ‘Absence and noise’ is more straight-forward, with a laid-back vibe and a chorus to die for with Sunny Kim’s vocals reaching new heights. ‘Dirty’ is more brutal, with shades of Bungle creeping in through the crazed timing and crunching guitars. 

‘In love (in theory)’ is off-key, off-kilter and wholly unpredictable, recalling (strangely) Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White rabbit’ before heading into a beautifully harmonised chorus. It is also here that the weird choice of instrumentation (including harp, vibraphone and cello) truly comes into its own (although it is never over-used), strengthening the tracks and drawing the listener in. ‘As sad as it was beautiful’ has a fearsome groove, despite applying a less-is-more approach which allows Kim’s excellent vocals room to manoeuvre. ‘Broke’ opens with eerie guitars which counterpoint Kim’s tuneful voice before tripping into more soulful territory. It’s the closest the album comes to the quirky pop of Bjork, but with a more rock edge than Iceland’s pop queen has ever mustered. 

‘Left with nothing’ operates in its own weird world with a disjointed time signature and features vocals from Trevor who, it transpires, has a fantastic voice which is both soulful and tuneful and more than a match for Kim. ‘Knowing’ is underpinned by a heavy guitar riff and pile-driving drums and works well with its schizophrenic guitars and jazzy vocal. ‘The mute number’ strangely echoes the theme tune to Quantum of solace with guitars slicing across a melodic backing before changing direction entirely to introduce jazz-influenced guitar and tightly unconventional bass lines. ‘The art of denial’ is rather more straightforward, given what has gone before, and has a relaxed vibe thanks to loose guitar licks and piano as well as Trevor’s beautifully understated backing vocals. ‘All the nerve endings’ closes the album in a stylishly atmospheric manner, leaving no doubt that you’ll be pressing play again very soon.   

Madlove follow in the great tradition of bands like Peeping Tom, creating perfect pop music while demonstrating that it doesn’t have to be simplistic, generic nonsense. Trevor Dunn’s mob possesses talent and memorable hooks in spades and it would be tragic if this doesn’t reach a wide audience because it is something quite special. With intriguing lyrics, an excellent production job courtesy of Joel Hamilton who deserves special credit for rendering the music with its multiple (and unusual) instruments with exceptional clarity, as well as a set of songs that only get better with repeated listens this is an excellent debut. 

Madlove ‘White with foam’ is available now from Ipecac records.