Antarctica Takes It! – Constellations (How Does It Feel to Be Loved?)

As far as opening gambits go, ‘Bossa’ – the first track on the new album by Antarctica Takes It! – is something of a curveball. In following up the band’s grin-inducing debut The Penguin League, mainman and multi-instrumentalist Dylan McKeever opts for a shift in tempo. A gentle, lovelorn slice of folk-pop, it begins with McKeever alone with a ukulele before he’s joined by a marimba and glockenspiel.

Constellations quickly moves from that twinkling, bittersweet intro to more characteristically exuberant indie-pop, all jaunty pianos, jangling guitars and fey handclaps. Much like their first full-length, McKeever and co twist the dial towards the line marked ‘twee’ and then up another few notches, but when quick-fire pop songs are dispatched with such glee it’s hard not to warm to a band this charming.

Bolder and even more catchy than before, there are still the Belle & Sebastian flavourings and Smiths-like inflections in place, as well as nods to scores of other indie-pop acts, but there’s a certain idiosyncrasy to McKeever’s songs which makes the band stand out from their peers and influences, even if the lyrical themes of love and heartbreak are decidedly unoriginal.

There are some neat touches throughout including the overlapping vocals on ‘Try Try Try’, backed by elegant girl-group harmonies, and the tropical guitar on the title track, showing a desire to play with the twee-pop template. Indeed, there are a plethora of moments here which get heads bobbing and neck-hairs standing to attention.

On the flipside, they can be too clever for their own good; when McKeever intones, “You know I’m a clumsy man” on ‘Spirit of Love’, it’s followed by what appears to be the sound of him falling over a drumkit. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but listeners could be forgiven for thinking that it was one of those moments when you really had to be there, and instead it’s merely jarring.

While Constellations may not exactly be much of a stylistic departure, it does explore McKeever’s songwriting capabilities, with more variation musically and a wider range of instrumentation present. It also sounds more full-bodied, with less emphasis on the lo-fi aesthetic which dominated their earliest efforts, even if the six-piece are painting with broadly the same strokes.

Winningly earnest and melodic, it manages to capture emotive moments and forge them into deliciously catchy indie-pop vignettes. What Constellations lacks in originality it makes up for with unbridled enthusiasm, cosiness and lop-sided beauty. You can almost hear McKeever trying to grow into his own songwriting voice, and that provides suspense as to where the sextet will go next. After hearing this you’ll want to find out.