Invisible Boy – Invisible Boy

The fact that he’s the bass player for Poliça is probably the quickest route into Chris Bierden’s catalogue for the uninitiated but just to call him that would be a disservice to his prodigious work rate. He’s contributed to records by Har Mar Superstar and been a driving force behind the likes of Pony Trash, Heavy Deeds and Bones & Beeker. He’s also spent a full decade playing shows under the name Invisible Boy – fittingly, a name plucked from a song by another of his bands, Vampire Hands – but only now is putting out a self-titled full-length.

Superficially speaking, Invisible Boy is indebted to synthpop and perhaps even soft psych; there’s a lot of woozy soundscapes and electronic textures, and Bierden’s vocals are pitched high but delivered smoothly. Dig beneath the surface, though, and it quickly becomes clear that at the real core of Bierden’s songwriting is golden age pop; he’s referencing The Beach Boys every bit as much as The Human League, especially on the melodic likes of Cadkin’s Song and So Long Living. The hooks aren’t always obvious – ‘Trespassing’ is a great example – but they’re there and, more often than not, they find a way of creeping up on you.

The problem is that, beyond that, there isn’t a great deal to Invisible Boy, and it frequently feels lightweight. The arrangements are pretty, but they don’t grab you and bring you back for more with any great insistence, and in a world where the likes of Ducktails and Panda Bear have struck upon a way to make pleasantly hazy pop that finds a gently way to nestle in your brain, Bierden doesn’t quite do enough to grab the listener. Accordingly, Invisible Boy feels like a pleasant detour, but not a great deal more than that.

Listen to: All the Kids, Darling, So Long Living