Positive Thinking
"Brain Sponge"
Dreamy, jittery, downtrodden pop in bite-size song form.
Reviewed November 1, 2024
Positive Thinking brings a minimalist style to their post-punk dream-pop, focusing on tones and precision to create mood and momentum. Across the five songs comprising Brain Sponge, this quartet shows an uncanny ability to layer their instruments organically without any one element taking center stage. It almost sounds like the four members of this band are standing in opposite corners with their backs turned to one another, bashful yet beautifully interconnected. Delicate guitars, modest bass, tasteful synths, steady drumming, and shy vocals compete to avoid the spotlight, with each doing just enough to support the others to create a cohesive whole.
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Most bands that trade in mood elongate their songs to fabricate a soundscape. None of these songs clock in at more than three minutes, with most of them barely cracking two. Their immediacy slots Positive Thinking into a pop/punk approach, but their restraint and timidity renders them something very different. So too does their commitment to minor keys: these songs all occupy a sad space. While there is occasional catharsis (the coda to “Nature TV” lets loose just a bit), most of these songs are the opposite of jubilant. It’s sad sounding stuff, more in the realm of dream pop than post punk. This angle is reinforced by the reverb laden guitars and vocals, both of which exist within the wash of their own echoes to further complicate the immediacy of the rhythm section.
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With music played in this straightforward a fashion, the recording easily conveys the instruments’ intentions. It sounds good – not great – but you get the sense that if it sounded great it wouldn’t sound as good. Crystal clear guitars and rounded low ends would render the mood moot. It’s an appropriate approach to the music. The playing itself is precise without sounding over-rehearsed, and while there’s room for some vocal harmonies to expand the mood, they’re not missing by any means.
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Brain Sponge sounds like an ideal recording of a band that knows exactly what they want to do and how to go about it. As long as Positive Thinking continues to explore this overlap between synth-pop and post-punk, I expect they’ll continue offering similarly smart and wistful tunes.
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