06.06.06: New Republic of Loose single...:	Ron, IU
more news... back to home page...

Just got notification that Friday week (June 16th) will see the next release from the mega-successful Republic of Loose Album "Aaagh!", which has been installed permanently on my CD player since I got it. The upcoming release is a Double-A including "Break" - my personal favourite fom the album, so much so that I have converted part of it for my ringtone - and "The Translation". Following hot on the radio-friendly heels of "Comeback Girl" and "You Know It", this upcoming release has a job and a half on it's hands to better them. From my review of the Album, here's what I wrote about "Break": "...starts off with a rhythm that instantly has the feet tapping, the head bopping and a Commitments-like backing vocal that is actually the main vocal at the start. Mick Pyro, the lead singer pours an Irish-rap over the top (there's no other description for it, although it's not really Rap either) that makes him sound like a character you'd be afraid to meet in a dark alley. He sounds like a lunatic which compliments the nature of the track by being it's opposite. "Break" is a mellow, summery, acoustic-guitar-led Latino-type groove with smooth (almost Gospel-like) backing vocals in places. Pyro, over the top, makes it sinister. On the other hand, sinister-plus-catchy is good in my world. Definitely. The final decoration for the track is a guitar break that puts me in mind of that infamous theme from "Pulp Fiction", if it was played on the high end of a high note on a steel guitar, and then speeded up a la The Chipmunks. Of course, that description sounds bizarre. In fact it sounds contrived, but - again - that's the thing about Republic Of Loose: you have to contrive new ways of describing what they are doing. The only complaint about the song, if complaint is the right word, is that the PG nature of the lyrics are going to prevent widespread exposure on radio, unless there is a cleaned-up radio version made available for sensitive commercial/daytime radio. My personal complaint is that neither the song itself, nor that Pulp-Fiction-guitar-break are long enough" You can see the full review here "The Translation" presents a more grown-up Republic of Loose. Over a Marvin Gaye-type mellowness, Pyro does almost an Irish Eminem, a sort of hybrid Rap/Singing that illustrates, perhaps more than much of RoL's previous material, that Pyro can actually sing. Properly. It was always there, and in "The Translation", it comes to the fore. Like "Break", "The Translation" is radio friendly and - more topically since we have a bit of sun at the moment - Summer friendly. Picture those news items we see on RTE and Sky whenever the sun comes out for any length of time (an hour or so) of people spread out all over parks and beaches, lapping up the elusive rays. Add these tracks, and the entire Republic of Loose album, and you have the perfect soundtrack for the sun. Shit, just noticed the date: 06/06/06 or 6.6.6 Hope that's just a coincidence and Pyro isn't really the Beast in disguise :-)

Email the author

Printer-friendly version