aaamusic | On 16, Apr 2012

There’s something quite old fashioned and cute about Time Capsules II. It might be the sugar sweet yet slightly eerie little tune at the end of the opener, HEART, or the bubblegum synth at the base of Landline from a distant time when mobile phones ceased to be or perhaps it’s in the Beach Boy-esque harmonic ‘oohs’ which scatter the album like heartbroken glitter. Maybe it’s the retro black and white yet tinged with pink album cover, or it could be in the album title, Time Capsules II.

However, despite the strong retro feeling to the album, there is still something very contemporary about it. This is evident in the titles of Oberhofer’s songs, such as Yr Face and Away Frm U, which at first looked like typos to me. Oberhofer fuses the past with the present day to create something which is, well, kind of cute.

Oberhofer is obviously very influenced by the Beach Boys and signature ‘oohs’ are littered wherever possible, especially in oOoO (what a surprise). Gold features some charming guitar lines and cute lyrics but is also filled with ‘ooh’ over-usage. Where used the guitar and percussion is pretty good but stuck in the background behind Oberhofer’s vocals, which are kind of interesting for a while, certainly throughout HEART and Landline but it gets a bit samey after a while, although the use of instruments is interesting, like the kind of instruments one might find in a magical toy box.

The theme of the album is very much that of heartbreak. By the time you get to I Could Go you’re thinking ‘nice guitar and hey, that whistling is kind of sweet’ and you’re not thinking the incessant Beach Boy ‘oohs’ are too irritating yet, but then Brad Oberhofer starts singing and towards the middle of the song it all gets beyond cute and into the realm of plain irritating.

The album closes with Homebro which sounds as cute as teddy bears filled with candy amongst melancholic tinges of violin alongside Oberhofer’s vocals which would have been nicer if they’d had a bit more variety to them. Disliking Oberhofer feels about as mean as kicking a puppy. Oh well, let’s kick the puppy and listen to the Beach Boys.

★★★★★

Author: Rose Benge