Supposedly deriving
their name from Gwyneth Paltrow’s character as the daughter in The Royal Tenenbaums (actually, “adopted
daughter”), Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s deliver a Wes Anderson-appropriate
product that is broody, angst-ridden, occasionally dreamy, bittersweet and, of
course, oh so self-conscious. The Indianapolis-by-way-of-Chicago outfit runs a
fairly typical gamut of predictable, chugging chamber pop and indie rock
tempered with lofty and self-reflexive literariness. “Will You Love Me
Forever?”—titled like a snippet of dialogue from the auteur of heartfelt
awkwardness himself—opens with the declaration, “If I could roll up my money
and smoke it, I would,” then promises to “take the tag off your sister and keep
her for good.”
This is the cocksure half of a songwriting personality that proceeds with the mild-cheese (and possibly pro-vegetarian) likes of “My Baby (Cares for the Animals).” This is not the most even go-round for the group, certainly. But by the time of the earnest plinkings of the album closer, “I Do,” or even on the potentially silly “Tiny Vampire Robot,” it doesn’t seem unthinkable to hear the So and So’s—maybe alongside Elliott Smith—on the soundtrack of the next Wilson brothers vehicle.
This is the cocksure half of a songwriting personality that proceeds with the mild-cheese (and possibly pro-vegetarian) likes of “My Baby (Cares for the Animals).” This is not the most even go-round for the group, certainly. But by the time of the earnest plinkings of the album closer, “I Do,” or even on the potentially silly “Tiny Vampire Robot,” it doesn’t seem unthinkable to hear the So and So’s—maybe alongside Elliott Smith—on the soundtrack of the next Wilson brothers vehicle.
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