boys republic - u.s royals

Boys Republic

U.S Royals
self-released; 2013

3.8 out of 5

Boys Republic is a two-piece band comprised of singer/lyricist/guitarist Ryan Kennedy and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Boyd. The band is located in Peterborough, Canada and is one of he most ambitious bands that I have had the pleasure of listening to...why? Well because they plan on releasing 12 albums this year and hope to have a catalogue of over 48 songs by the end of the year. Forming from prior bands that were able to support large acts such as Bloc Party and Mastodon.

Boys Republic called on Shawn Bradley to produce/engineer their plan. According to the band “Each EP has its own feel and is inspired by different things both musically and lyrically. Each EP is recorded in 48 hrs with only Ryan Kennedy knowing the songs beforehand. Production and instrumentation is intentionally left to decide upon in the moment. Capturing the ' spark ' that happens when you play a song for the first time is the primary goal of this type of recording experience.” What’s amazing about this statement is that the album feels refined and calculated but in a good way. The songs are catchy, full energy and memorable. Not bad for doing something off the cuff. Today we are focusing on their third release entitled U.S Royals, which has four songs that have encouraged me to write down their schedule of releases for the year.

The first song “Fighting the Weather” is a light rather sparse dance number that embraces the wonderful lead vocals, which are as catchy as they are distinct. The chorus pops and is all the better behind the excellent engineering. The first song isn’t a fluke because the second song “Giving It All Up to You” delivers with the same aesthetics as the vocals are again the highpoint of the song. Fans of New Order and Depeche Mode are in for a treat. The music is impressive and introduces a new format to distribute music that most bands would never consider. Check these guys out!

official website

bandcamp

Produced, recorded and mixed by Shawn Bradley

                           Fadernoise Recording