If punks are going to go pop, why bother to redress old chords in a new way? Why not blast through to the other side, going fully orchestral? Morning Glory‘s newest a-side, “Born to December,” owes more to late ’60s / early ’70s orchestral pop like Lynn Anderson’s “(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden” or overture numbers to rock musicals than it does to actual pop-punk.
With its quiet introduction that builds to a running rock middle, ending with swelling strings and chorused vocals, this fits in with the likes of Hedwig & the Angry Inch‘s “Wig In A Box” more than anything else. It’s astonishing and energetic, and hearing Ezra Kire sing — actually sing — for a good long while before breaking into his familiar rasping scream makes this seem like another band entirely from the band that recorded the crack rocksteady anthems of The Whole World Is Watching.
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