Zoo Papa, the first proper EP
from Abingdon duo/sometime-foursome Grudle Bay is a stylistically
strong effort from the keyboard, guitar and disco-beat-loving band.
That being said the three songs are not without some major issues.
Vocally the band punch somewhat above their weight which detracts
from the songs' pretty melodies. 'Flyta', for example, features some
questionable harmonised scatting which sounds (at least to these
ears) both flat and out of time with the drums and the verse comes
across like Culture Club's 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?'. It's
actually the keyboards that are the most pleasing part of each song,
and the most musically interesting. Case in point is final track
'Aperture' which begins with some beautiful, lonely, deep keyboard
notes. But once the incessant uptempo drums kick in the impact is
largely lost, making me long for the forlorn, elegant EP closer that
the song could have been if the keyboards had been left largely
unadorned. Grudle Bay have repeatedly flirted with a formula that
works well for the light-as-sifted-flour sound that they're going for
– usually when they combine the airyness of, well, Air and the
miser-indie/experimentalism of Radiohead. Don't get me wrong, this is
a good start but let's hope they continue to evolve into the
ethereal, electronic funk-miserablists they could be.
[Originally published in Oxford Music Scene magazine, issue 20]
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