With a cheeky supposed nod to Foxy Lady in the first few seconds of Into The Fire, I was pulled in to their three-track demo which landed in my inbox a while ago. Yes, on reflection, definitely should’ve listened to it sooner, there was definitely an overcast Thursday in October where this would have been the perfect pick me up…
So far so good and a quick bit of research shows that the AA gents have been doing rather well for themselves, clocking up international radio play and kudos back home too. With a tight rhythm section and a pretty clear desire to keep the sound pretty raw, generally all of the parts blend really well. Following from the opener is Autonomy, a slightly slower track that gives a lot of room to guitars and bass playing against each other – Chili Peppers clearly an influence, juxtaposed against a vocal that seems to take inspiration from Stipe. Or Yorke. Or Morrisey. Or all three or maybe Dave Matthews, I’m not sure, maybe even neither.
And it’s this that is my only criticism of the otherwise formidable talent on show here – I just struggled to put the vocal together with the rest of what was going on in these tracks – but I think I know what they are aiming for. That’s not to say frontman Will doesn’t deliver, he does, but perhaps just pushing the vocal a touch higher in the mix and him just unlocking his annunciation so we get a bit more of the lyric can only add to the pretty fantastic overall sound these guys have.
The third and final track is my favourite out of the three and is driven by an octave guitar riff laden with intent and a dash of melancholy too. With a guitar led break down two minutes in interrupted by some pretty mean bass before the track explodes into a frenzied departure into something that took me back to early Ocean Colour Scene.
Wonderfully energetic rock and great to see that footage of them live show that they can deliver this material in front of a crowd without compromise – I expect to hear more about these guys very soon!
Audio Asylum Demo: 8/10
With a gritty raw sound, I really believe this band and these songs – have a listen!
So far so good and a quick bit of research shows that the AA gents have been doing rather well for themselves, clocking up international radio play and kudos back home too. With a tight rhythm section and a pretty clear desire to keep the sound pretty raw, generally all of the parts blend really well. Following from the opener is Autonomy, a slightly slower track that gives a lot of room to guitars and bass playing against each other – Chili Peppers clearly an influence, juxtaposed against a vocal that seems to take inspiration from Stipe. Or Yorke. Or Morrisey. Or all three or maybe Dave Matthews, I’m not sure, maybe even neither.
And it’s this that is my only criticism of the otherwise formidable talent on show here – I just struggled to put the vocal together with the rest of what was going on in these tracks – but I think I know what they are aiming for. That’s not to say frontman Will doesn’t deliver, he does, but perhaps just pushing the vocal a touch higher in the mix and him just unlocking his annunciation so we get a bit more of the lyric can only add to the pretty fantastic overall sound these guys have.
The third and final track is my favourite out of the three and is driven by an octave guitar riff laden with intent and a dash of melancholy too. With a guitar led break down two minutes in interrupted by some pretty mean bass before the track explodes into a frenzied departure into something that took me back to early Ocean Colour Scene.
Wonderfully energetic rock and great to see that footage of them live show that they can deliver this material in front of a crowd without compromise – I expect to hear more about these guys very soon!
Audio Asylum Demo: 8/10
With a gritty raw sound, I really believe this band and these songs – have a listen!
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