Album Review: Pillow Talk – This Is All Pretend

It’s been two years since Pillow Talk‘s last release, their new album is one that has been shaped by singer Joshua Cannon‘s personal experiences, including family bereavement and the toll this took on him over the last few years, but he has channelled these negative events into the creation of This Is All Pretend, a release that follows on from their 2015 EP, What We Should Have Said. Pillow Talk released their debut album via Animal Style Records on the 10th March 2017, and it is available on vinyl, on gold and red and white swirl variants, and digital formats.

Monogamy eases you into This Is All Pretend with ethereal tones, echo drenched guitars and synths that are stretched across a strident drum beat that belies the mellow feel of the opening track, This is All Pretend comes across as the kind of late night mellow soundscape you need in your life from time to time. It’s a release that washes over you with waves of treble and echo, there is no upbeat track to lift the album, it remains in a firmly mellow state across it’s ten tracks and thirty five minute run time, whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing it meant that I found that the tracks tended to blend into each other, not in an unpleasant way, but there is no moment that makes you sit up and take notice.

I can’t help feel that this release owes a hefty debt to the mellower side of the post punk bands of the eighties such as The Cure and The Chameleons, but under their placid exterior there is fire that is fuelled by injustice, they released the track Little Worries ahead of the album’s release to support organisations that are working to combat the current US administrations policies. This Is All Pretend is a natural progression from Pillow Talk‘s previous releases, their name is well chosen as this is an album that’s perfect for the late night’s that merge into early mornings, although on a personal note the use of auto tune, even though it’s used for effect rather than to hide deficiencies, did detract from the album and was a jarring element that I never like to hear used.

Pillow Talk‘s website is here and their Facebook page is here

You can purchase This Is All Pretend here