Maybe I like Freelance Whales a little because, otherwise, they would be too easy to hate. Maybe their derivative vulnerability makes them seem somehow worthy of defending; or it could be their fun and empirically great debut LP, Weathervanes. It could also be that their influences are too easy to peg, almost obvious and earnest in their plagiarism, making their artistic choices seem, somehow, honest. We live in strange cultural times.
In regard to Freelance Whales, consider the generation of college kids who matriculated between 2003-2006, finding the first Arcade Fire album and the Postal Service record in the same 12-18 month span. It just crushed them in as stunning and seismic way as The Strokes first LP crushed college kids in 2001-2003. But this new paradigm was different, something other than lionizing downtown disaffection (Julian, yes, you did that). These were emotional hymns with epic structure. It was emotive rock music for kids who saw the world from their own private Idahos. It was a snow globe for kids who already lived inside one.
This is not to say that Freelance Whales are doing the disingenuine work of bad artists. They're doing the exact work we might expect. Just like this remix of "Generator 1st Floor" by one of the Passion Pit kids. Just because it's expected doesn't make it wrong.
Listen :: Freelance Whales - "Generator 1st Floor" [Aislyn Remix]
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