Blonde Redhead Fully Shakes Noise Rock Past with New Minimalist Album 'Barragán'

Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of.

Week of 09/12/2014
WHO: Blonde Redhead
WHAT: Barragán
SPOT: 180

The evolution of Blonde Redhead from a noise rock/shoegaze band to a dream pop act has been long in the making but Barragán finally shakes the 'gaze from the group's persona. Previous scenes in the band's career, such as 2010's Penny Sparkle, still maintained a relatively dense core of sound—thanks to electric elements—that suggested noise rock even if it was wholly dream pop. It's not hard to imagine: The two genres are based on similar beliefs if often different instruments.

Barragán gets loose from those beliefs and the results are shocking to those well-versed in Redhead's past output. The album isn't just minimalistic from a Blonde Redhead perspective...it's an outright minimalist pop album.

The quiet backing given by the Pace twins for vocalist Kazu Makino make tracks such as "Cat On Tin Roof" sound like they were ripped out of an alternative dimension of '60s pop where Phil Spector never happened. Makino makes her vocal moves while Amedeo Pace lays a simple groove before contributing a swell solo that sounds oh-so-lonely within the emptiness of the track.

Barragán is definitely worth the listen but Blonde Redhead devotees shouldn't be surprised if they don't like what they hear.