Buffet Lunch - The Power of Rocks

 

Eclectic debut album from Scottish four piece out 7th May via Upset the Rhythm

Buffet Lunch are a four man band from Scotland, who are on a mission to serve up imperfect pop songs with humour and energy, this has been formed into the kaleidoscopic debut album that is The Power of Rocks out on 7th May from Upset the Rhythm.

The parts of the band consist of Perry O'Bray (vocals/keys/guitars), Neil Robinson (bass), John Muir (lead guitar) and Luke Moran (drums), who came together through a love of all things pop and indie and everything in between the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Together the foursome of constructed a wonky DIY feel to their cacophony of sound which runs the gamut of emotions from loneliness and downbeat to the upper echelons of breezy melody.

Recorded on the banks of Upper Loch Fyne in Argyll over four nights and five days at the beginning of March 2020 before the world pandemic took hold, there is a sense of living in the moment when listening back to the album's eleven track sequence.

A blend of production and musicianship take hold as the run times of songs differ throughout from the sub two minute shouts of 'Pebbledash' and 'Bladderwrack' combine against the longer more traditional 'Looking at Liz Talent's Chair' and 'Ashley's New Haircut'.

This encompasses everything with a seemingly brief 38 minutes total run time yet the melodies and compositions stay with you throughout and after the fact - from the bop and riffiness of 'He Wore Two Hats' to the anthemic title track which embraces the feeling of climate and location of recording that took place.

An album of time and place at once, this is a work that may be difficult to access for many but you are certain people said this of Black Country, New Road at the beginning - when the ear worm worthiness of songs take hold it cannot be denied.

For fans of such obscure artists as Sweet Baboo (do check out Wild Imagination from 2017) and those other eclectic bands of the last few years such as BCNR and Pet Shimmers; this is an album that is both mesmerising and engaging.

The Power of Rocks is released on 7th May via Upset the Rhythm

Follow the band on Twitter and Instagram

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity

The Green Child - Simmering Basset

 

New album from an Austro-American pairing - Raven Mahon and Mikey Young.

This insightful album of electronic and stipped back vocals is reminiscent to this listener of Ladytron and other electro pop bands of the mid-noughties; there is an earnestness to the music seemingly you have to listen to this music without being overbearing.

Lead single Fashion Light harnesses this energy of retro-futuristic with soundscapes of synthesizers and drum machines.

This lovely sound the pair create helped by Mahon's wistful delivery of the dreamy vocals make this a winning combination; harking back to the works of OMD, Tears for Fears and even the smooth vocals of Errol Brown and Hot Chocolate.

The band used to be a long distance collaboration with Mahon residing in California, before upping sticks and joining Young in his native Melbourne district. Moving on from their self-titled debut in 2018, this album shows a growth in the partnership living near each other and Mahon growing into a near place of familiarity and stability - the tightness of the band is evident in the work being created.

Raven explains further, “it feels more cohesive because over the year or so in which we wrote these songs I started to feel a desire to take the lyric writing part more seriously… my head is rooted in this new place now and that’s settled into the songwriting.”

From the flurry of 'Witness' to the album closer 'Double Lines' this is an album of melodic grandeur and musical expansion, a band ready to make a break for the big time; this is an album full of measured elegance from the exquisite production values to the dreamlike sound perfect for these dreary autumn weekends ahead.

Shimmering Basset is out from Upset The Rhythm on October 23rd.

My thanks to Mutante PR for the review opportunity

Es - Less of Everything

First full length album from quartet Es from Upset The Rhythm in April 2020

Es are less a band and more a manifesto - lets be loud, lets be proud - a virtual coolness of pop friction, prickly in their composition but deliberate in their conviction.

The band are a four-piece, Maria Cecilia Tedemalm (vocals), Katy Cotterell (bass), Tamsin M. Leach (drums) and Flora Watters (keyboards) made noise in 2016 with their debut EP 'Object Relations' released on La Vida Es Un Mus label, they have become a prominent member of the underground DIY music scene since 2017

In the form of Tedemalm, the band have a vital front person who can be the focal point for the group. The band are as much about attitude and this is backed up by the dynamic of being relentless in this album - this is an emotional journey that carries you through the scale of nuance to complex; and while other DIY groups may sound cold there is a welcoming nature to this band. Es are ones to watch.

Less of Everything is out from Upset The Rhythm on April 3rd.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.