Tropic Of Youth - Sun City EP (Plastic Fish Records)
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| Tropic Of Youth - Sun City EP |
Release Date: 7th April 2014
Man, Vampire Weekend have got a
lot to answer for. I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way, it's just that
their guitar sound pervades a lot of areas now, including Sheffield indie-pop
bands, apparently. Tropic Of Youth are one such band and you only need to get
about 10 seconds in to the opening track of this EP, 'Poa Nichizi Kama Ndizi'
to hear those guitar influences. Having said that, the next track, 'Hot
Season', has a guitar riff that is pure sun-rise stuff and makes you want to
stand on a stand on a sun drenched balcony before drinking some freshly
squeezed orange juice. Naked. 'You' is a little less sunny and has a Maccabees
feel to it as the drums patter in the background and the guitar work takes
centre stage again.
Bands like Tropic Of Youth and
Swim Deep are ploughing a successful furrow in dreamy, almost nostalgic indie
with luscious melodies which are almost impossible to resist. 'We Can', for
example, returns to the earlier guitar themes but has that very real feeling of
optimism that you get at the end of an engaging film when the main protagonist
wins the battle or gets the girl. The final track on this short collection is
'Post Youth' is another more straightforward indie track but with some nice 80s
indie overtones that make you think of Simple Minds or the Cure as well as
Foals. This is pretty promising stuff from the Steel City quartet and I hope
they can get a good summer of gigs under their belt before they lose too much
of their innocence and inquisitiveness. Those are the two qualities that make
this music so appealing, after all.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/TropicofYouthMusic?fref=ts
Live Dates:
9th April - Shacklewell Arms, London
18th April - The Plug, Sheffield w/Jaws + The Magic Gang