Search - The Icicles :: Arrivals & Departures

Second full length from these Detroit super popstars! This music is all about fun & catchy sing along jingles. To steal use of one of their song titles: their music is "Sugar Sweet!"
While there are plenty of "aww how cute" moments in the back-story of Grand Rapids, Michigan's The Icicles, it would be a mistake to see them as mere DIY indie-poppers. It's true; The Icicles did sell handmade hats and mittens at craft shows to pay for the recording of their debut EP. Joleen, initially too shy to play with Gretchen in the early days, thought she'd be of use to the fledgling group as a seamstress. But, The Icicles needed a keyboardist, and Gretchen liked how Joleen sweetly played "Blackbird" on the guitar when they first met as students at Grand Valley State University. So, with Joleen in place, the band was born. The group eventually found their way to the stage via the local pop shows brought to Grand Rapids by their future label boss, Drive In/Microindie's Mike Babb, and have stood out (in matching outfits) from day one. They are, at once, a perfect combination of surface and substance.

The Icicles share with their contemporaries The Concretes and Camera Obscura (or with past favorites Heavenly, The Softies and Tiger Trap) the ability to create music that recalls the joyous pop sound of the great Sixties' girl groups, at the same time managing to breathe a certain maturity into this oft-visited genre. The tried and true themes of young love and youthful, naive exuberance are present, but tempered with realism and the wistfulness that comes through a grown-up knowledge of conflict and regret.