When The Noise Dies Down

Bumper “Red Brick”

Bumper’s first EP sounds like it’s specifically based on late ’80s sophisti-pop along the lines of Swing Out Sister and that music’s aesthetic cousin Japanese city pop, but the music is written and performed without any trace of irony. At other points in time this sort of thing could be expected to be played with a wink even by true believers, but Michelle Zauner and Ryan Galloway do this with a degree of sincerity that makes a song like “Red Brick” feel authentic and pure. Everything in the song sounds bright and joyful, and even as Zauner confronts dark feelings in the lyrics it’s not a subversive move – her point of view is entirely optimistic that difficult times can be overcome in a very “the only way out is through” way.

Buy it from Bandcamp.