Osaka indie-pop outfit Wallflower posted a cover of The Field Mice’s “This Love Is Not Wrong” online over the weekend, and its definitely worth taking a listen to. For the most part, Wallflower’s take on the track doesn’t break new ground – something something jangle something something twee – save for the vocals. Whereas The Field Mice original leaves the singing untouched and in the open, Wallflower’s vocalist gets pushed a little deeper into the mix and surrounded by sparkles, which is me trying to describe Wallflower sounding “dreamy” without using the word “dreamy.”
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/45384594″ iframe=”true” /]
The current boom in Japanese indie-pop has resulted in a lot of good music…this cover being a fine example…but at the same time the whole thing comes off as a bit too backward looking, a little too content to stare wide-eyed at the past and replicate those times. I like the original songs these groups do – Wallflower’s “Cure For Your Heart” is a good example, or just as recently Post Modern Team’s “Never Let You Down” – but there has also been a rise in cover songs that just don’t add much to the conversation besides “remember this, that was great.” I like The Field Mice and The Smiths and all the stuff covered on the JPN C86 tape as much as the next melancholy blogger, but indie-pop is all about creation, of picking up whatever instrument you have and creating something with it. I love the original stuff coming out as they really represent the DIY nature of indie-pop, but all these covers seem a bit too nostalgic.
Or cover “Emma’s House,” I wouldn’t whine about that.