Trixie's Big Red Motorbike - All Day Long In Bliss

BLITHELY HUMS FROM A CUSHIONED NOOK

Charm goes a long, long way. We see it skirt by talent, with boisterous personalities attaching to provocative trends. But in Trixie's Big Red Motorbike's case, charm transcends access. For the adorable Twee Pop originators had none. All Day Long In Bliss, a compilation of their primitive, Lo-Fi material that never surfaced, is a showcase to how much can be done with so little. Mark and Melanie Litten were shy, comfortably secluded away from stardom. They cared not for business formalities, substituting record labels and stores for cassette tapes sent through the postal service. These personality quirks reflect Trixie's innocent Twee Pop fittingly, as an insouciant mirth weaves through their DIY sound; naive and playful. Little did they know, decades onwards, home-brew Bedroom Pop would thrive on sites like Bandcamp, with the quiet tenderness of artists like Youth Lagoon, Bedbug, and Space Cadet cited as examples. Yet none feel as cozy, snug, and nurtured as All Day Long In Bliss. Set deep in a cubbyhole, left to unwind peacefully.

A third of the appeal of Trixie comes in the shape of static. A warm fuzz permeates these 18 songs, bound to crude recording software dated to the early 80's. Some, like 'A Splash Of Red' and 'Invisible Boyfriend,' are distant and borderline indiscernible, mere mirages casting out apparitions of forgotten teens languishing away in their basements. The carefree spirit emanating from ill-fated ideas, represented here in the slew of Demos and 'What Was In The Loft's' polaroid scraps. Melanie's dainty vocals, her wide-eyed lyrics, and the production's inviting harmlessness represents another third of All Day Long's appeal. The former, best exemplified on the endearing 'Hold Me,' the middle on the outrageous and whimsical 'When He's By My Side,' the latter through the rudimentary kazoo on 'Trixie's Groove.' It all beams with pure, unfiltered naiveté.

As for the final third, that's where melody and euphony come into play, a needed commodity for Twee Pop. And it's here where comparisons to other 80's innovators can be felt. Be it Tallulah Gosh, Dolly Mixture, Beat Happening, or, later, Heavenly, the merits of foundational, homegrown Pop started here. In the cellars of England, unbeknownst to the others due to meek timidity. A beautiful thing when appreciated from afar, knowing that the genre's birth came naturally, as a reaction to adolescent summer's in England, and not by hype or trends. These acts can be heard in the jangle of 'Norman & Narcissus,' the tropical breeze of 'In Timbuktu,' or the charm of 'Fairytales.' And there's that word again: Charm. It describes Trixie's All Day Long In Bliss better than any other.