Album Review: Sleigh Bells, Jessica Rabbit

Noise pop duo Sleigh Bells are one of the hipster bands out that emerged out of Brooklyn around 2010 with an endorsement from M.I.A. and a vast avalanche of hype. On their fourth album, titled after the iconic cartoon character from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, they don’t expand much on the basic formula of pain-threshold noise and shouty vocals. 
‘Lightning Turns Sawdust Gold’ features some interesting use of piano, but there are few curve balls thrown into Sleigh Bells’ consciously hip script. Indeed, ‘I Can’t Stand You Anymore’ sounds like something from American Idol given an added sheen in the studio. 
Part of the problem is Sleigh Bells’ noise feels like it’s for its own sake: a compressed din that’s hardly particularly inventive, new or creative. In US alt-rock, Crystal Castles are another divisive band, but they’re more nuanced and write good good songs. 
Jessica Rabbit is full of the kind of random noise one could imagine being deployed during interrogation sessions at Guantanamo. The long and the short is that I just don’t get it.