The Reds, Pinks and Purples - Uncommon Weather

Has a day gone by since they first drifted into my life via their 7" on IDDB midway through last year without me listening to The Reds, Pinks and Purples? Maybe, but not many, and certainly not today. The music the one-time Skygreen Leopard Glenn Donaldson makes as RPPs does seem to effortlessly necessitate that kind of devotion, the reasons for which are perhaps a little more complex than its easy melodicism might suggest. Uncommon Weather is officially, i suppose, the second Reds, Pinks and Purples album following the release of Anxiety Art, though of course there was the aforementioned 4 song 7" and mini album in between, not to mention dozens of songs released via Bandcamp. Donaldson is quite clearly a prolific songwriter, which in itself means nothing if it were not for the fact that he's discovered a very clear & defined register through the RPPs persona. Those paying close attention will have noticed how so many of these songs address similar themes, revisiting time & again the dialecticism of fandom & creativity, the politics of place & its people (always against the backdrop of San Fran), and the various disappointments & epiphanies attached to these experiences. That pop alchemy of disguising the universal (and possibly the eternal) in personal testament. So laser-honed is Donaldson's realisation of what RPPs are, he's able to approach these ideas repeatedly while adding fresh perspective & insight, of course assisted by an apparently endless supply of melody & hooks, and it does help that he's as capable an indiepop scholar as anyone you'll find - a child of Sarah, Creation, Rough Trade yes, but also an indie/alt classicist as a whole, if such a thing isn't a misnomer. And this is why i think these songs inspire such reverence: Donaldson is both sides of the counter, both sides of the stage, the same as us if only we were more than us, the familiar, inspirational & aspirational all at once. That's great pop. Funnily enough, Donaldson writes a great blog titled the Failure of All Pop. Uncommon Weather might just show the irony in that. I wouldn't be surprised if it were intentional.