Bling Rodent – Constant Smile (EP – Icy Cold Records)
Genre/Influences: Indie-Pop/Rock, Cinematographic.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: Bling Rodent is a Swedish project driven by a handful of musicians from prominent Swedish pop acts who came together to explore their darker sides. “Constant Smile” is the band’s debut work featuring four songs.
Content: It’s not that easy defining the sound of this band. It clearly reveals a darker atmosphere, the songs being dreamy-like. There’s a melancholic touch hanging over the songs, which have something Cinematographic-like. One of the songs (cf. “Desert Sidewalk”) reminds me a bit of Hooverphonic on a dark trip.
+ + + : Bling Rodent makes me think of Hooverphonic and that’s more than simply a reference, but they even go further. The dark side of the sound has something ghost-like and yet pretty accessible. There’s a perfect balance between guitar playing and electronics while the female fragile and yet passionate vocal parts have something magic on top of the production.
– – – : There’s maybe not an absolute hit featured here although “Desert Sidewalk” has a strong potential.
Conclusion: Bling Rodent is an interesting newcomer, composing a kind of dark Indie music. I’m really looking forward to hearing more from this band.
Best songs: “Desert Sidewalk”, “Constant Smile”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/blingrodent
Label: www.facebook.com/icycoldrecords
About Bling Rodent
Bling Rodent is a Swedish project formed by musicians from established Swedish pop acts, brought together to explore a darker musical direction than their main projects. “Constant Smile”, a four-track EP, is the band’s debut release, issued via Icy Cold Records in 2021.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
