Princeton

Bloomsbury (Striking Peasant)

By Lindsay Trapnell
Published: August 11th, 2008 | 9:00am

Who knew that tales of suicide, failure, and jealousy among a group of dead writers could be so catchy? The members of Princeton earn their Ivy League moniker by using the Bloomsbury Group as inspiration for their second EP. Each song on the four-track Bloomsbury focuses on a member of the early 20th century literary / intellectual / artist collective: Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Leonard Woolf, and Lytton Strachey.

Sure, this might sound a little pretentious or — given that the band is fronted by young, shaggy-haired twins — too reminiscent of Dead Poets Society, but in our dumbed-down celebrity circus culture, a dose of brazen intellectualism and literary love can’t hurt. And more importantly, Bloomsbury is a solid, well-crafted pop album.

With its lilting vocals, stop-start rhythm, and Afro-pop percussion, opener “The Waves” brings to mind fellow rock literati Vampire Weekend. It’s a strong opening track that prompts you to tap along on your steering wheel, or add your own handclaps. “Ms. Bentwich” fixes its narrative on the secretary that fell in love with the allegedly homosexual Keynes. The song’s pastoral tone is quickly established with chirping birds and banjo. Floating flute melodies are grounded by a softly driving rhythm, while string plucking shades the tragic tale with a proper sense of melancholy.

Princeton’s talent for arrangement and quirky instrumentation is most apparent on “Leonard Woolf.” A banjo and piano accompany the lament of Leonard’s “Dusty pages no one read,” and if the flourish of bells and horns doesn’t lift his spirit, they offer up these words of solace to the overshadowed writer, “Your books will one day speak to me / And when they do, we’ll run outside / And tell your wife.”

At 13 minutes, the EP of poppy gems flies by. They may provoke comparison to Glasgow's Belle & Sebastian and sing of the English countryside, but the brothers Kiven and drummer Ben Usen hail from Eagle Rock, California. Perhaps it’s their sunny surroundings that imbue these lyrically sad songs with such buoyant melodies.

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