Song of the Day: The Pipettes “Pull Shapes”

The mid-2000’s saw a mini retro-sounding girl group revival, that introduced a handful of groups to the world. One of these was the English band The Pipettes. The group was the brainchild of Robert “Monster Bobby” Barry, who wrote the songs for the band and discretely played rhythm guitar. The Pipettes have released two albums and featured a fairly fluid line-up over the years.

“Pull Shapes” (which also appeared on their debut record, We Are The Pipettes) was the group’s breakthrough single and remains a brilliant slice of coy retro pop. “Pull Shapes” really captures the feel of a classic Ronettes or Crystals track without sounding like a mere tribute. The song is built around some great vocals, a great hook and unlike the famous Phil Spector-produced “wall of sound” tracks that informed it, some very crisp, modern production. It is impressive that the The Pipettes are able to recapture the feel of their inspiration without slavishly attempting to recreate the exact sonic qualities: a trap that many ‘retro’ revivalist acts tend to fall into. As such, the song manages to be one of the few tributes to a prior era of music that can stand tall, hand-in-hand with its inspiration.

The song’s lyrics, are of course, about dancing. Despite its trappings and brilliant camp 60’s teen variety show music tribute video, the song still features some modern references. All in all, “Pull Shapes” is a blast. If you want to Disco, to Rock n’ Roll or to Hip-Hop, “Pull Shapes” has you covered.