Secret Meeting score: 57

by Philip Moss

Superorganism have already made quite the stir in the music industry. They are an eight piece pop act that live in a shared house in East London, and claim to be a “DIY pop production house” due to their collaborative writing style that involves the pinging of emailed ideas from room to room in order to turn individual ideas into collaborative fruitions.

After various labels scrambled to capture the octet, they eventually signed with the serial career launchers, Domino Records (Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Wild Beasts). Led by 18-year-old front woman, Orono Noguchi, they became an internet sensation when their single, Everybody Wants To Be Famous, went viral and racked up over 1.5m views on YouTube.

For those of you wondering why any band would possibly need eight members, you only have to listen to album opener, It’s All Good – a colourful collage of samples, fuzz bass and drum machines. The tried and tested method of the guitar line of SPRORGNSM repeating the lead vocal melody creates an immediate ear worm, and Nobody Cares is again rather catchy through its refrained verse. After multiple listens the sample interludes of ‘Pinky and Perkyized’ vocals become rather annoyingly tiresome. Again, Nai’s March is pleasant enough, but the sampled Game Boy is superfluous and extremely irritating.

Aforementioned lead single, Everybody Wants To Be Famous, is a bouncy bubble of early MGMT-evoking pop, that tackles the millennial ideal of chasing stardom. But lyrically, the other nine tracks don’t say anything that suggests you’ll be Googling the lyrics to find hidden interpretations.

At its best, Superorganism is a hybrid blend of smart pop and throw-the-kitchen-sink-at-it production. But at its worst it’s gimmick filled, and could have been put together by the jingle writers at CBBC. This is a band that I’m sure that will go down a storm at the festivals over the summer. But I don’t see this collection having much longevity, or causing much of a stir, after that.