I’ve been doing this for too long.
It was confirmed the moment when I posed myself the question “hey – are Tropical Popsicle Trop Pop?”, as if tenuously connecting a band’s name with a micro-niche music genre I’d only really encountered once before is enough to make a question valid.
They’re not Trop Pop, by the way – this sub-sub-meta-genre is Cold Wave, of course – but let’s not get bogged down in the ludicrous world of pigeon-holing, and prise open a song like The Beach With No Footprints, where tinny zing!s of noise punctuate the thoughts of a lunatic preacher.
Sounding like a lost 80’s synth power-pop hit slowed to 70% of its original speed, The Beach With No Footprints has the important knack of supplying just enough sound to keep the listener interested and from flipping onwards to another song.
We’re rewarded with a song that is almost motorik in its relentlessness and insidiously burrows into your mind – and then leaves you with nothing at all. A magic trick to enjoy.