Pe/eP on PoP- Bubblegum Lemonade

Bubblegum Lemonade- Sophomore Release (Matinee Recordings- 2011)

~by Gabe McBride

 71

 Bubblegum Lemonade (along with the female fronted Strawberry Whiplash) is the life’s work of Glasgow, Scotland’s Lawrence “Laz” McCluskey. Sophomore Release is the second (natch) release of C-86 styled indie pop from Bubblegum Lemonade, and it doesn’t stray too greatly from the band’s first LP, Doubleplusgood, not that there’s anything wrong with that. 

McCluskey was born, it would seem about 40 years too late, as his sunny, effervescent mod-pop would have been better suited for the swinging London of 1964. Bubblegum Lemonade sound like a band that would have influenced The Jesus and Mary Chain, like some sort of long lost golden oldies group that never was.  There are nods to 50’s teeny-bopper pop, some light psychedelic flourishes, and even a beatnik inspired, bongo-beat-led jam or two on the album. Most of the songs are about girls, or listening to the radio, or girls listening to the radio and make me nostalgia for a time I never lived in, and maybe never even existed in the first place. 

For Fans of: Kai Reiner, Best Coast, The Hollies