Alright, hold your horses; I’m not suggesting for a second that Blenko is moseying down the nostalgia lane, yearning for the echoes of bygone glories, or plundering the sounds of yore. But let me tell you, the whole sonic tapestry woven into “There There There” is like a direct transmission from the halcyon days of early 90s British indie fervor.
Somewhere in the twilight zone between post-punk grit and the unabashed swagger of Brit-pop, there existed a cohort of bands adept at marrying the allure of mainstream catchiness with the nonchalant cool of the underground. Ex-shoegazers seeking to carve out a bigger slice of the pie, indie darlings envisioning their genre as a launching pad for a new strain of pop, outsiders finally accepting that the punk wars were over, (you lost, sorry) music straddling the line between the accessible and the raw, the authentic and the magnetic. And if those days seem like a distant dream to you, just lend your ears to “There There There”; it reverberates with all the electric vibes that made that scene crackle with life in the first place.
The pulse hits you square in the chest, a simple bassline and a rhythmic drum pattern doing precisely what backbeats were born to do, and gradually, this driving, buoyant energy gets ensconced in a labyrinth of sonic layers. Guitars slice through the air while additional vocals provide weight and harmony, yet somehow, the song manages to retain an airy, uncluttered aura. Blenko ain’t no fool; they comprehend that once you’ve hit the sweet spot of a killer groove, the last thing you wanna do is smother it with unnecessary noise. (Take heed, all you rock aficionados out there.)
Whether they realize it or not, “There There There” is a tune forged in the image of the fire of early rock and roll. It sways, it hooks, and it boogies. I dare anyone within earshot of this sonic gem not to bust a move, throw some shapes, or let loose on the dance floor when this bad boy hits. Heck, they might even flip their wig or whatever the hip cats are calling it these days.
