The four members of the alt Americana and rock outfit Champs of the Sun have been playing around their native Lexington, Kentucky four the past few years. Their first recorded offering is the seven-song EP titled simply The EP. And from this tongue in cheek title and their sort of country-ish take on a band like the Strokes et al one can only assume that the group doesn’t take themselves too seriously. I found this to be evident even more so in the their songs which are tight and clean and very well recorded and produced but have that sort of smart slacker character to them all.
The opening track “Launch Party” is a high energy but not over the top rock song bordering on punk, as though the Sex Pistols had a keyboardist and did everything in half time. This idea of really having a relaxed sort of take on their output really does wonders for the band. Next up comes the slow and melodic “True” which gets such a boost from the moody and simple keyboard playing it becomes sort of a wonder of a song. On “Live a Little” they pull off a mystical ballad that doesn’t come off as too sappy or trite and it’s really a refreshing song that is neatly inserted between a bunch of mid to up tempo rock songs. Speaking of mid tempo rock songs, “Mutiny” is just that and again has that slacker rock vibe to it but again nothing goes over the top here, not the vocals or the rippling piano track or the blues-rock guitar. They all meld together into this jam session of plain and simple rock yet it just serves to remind how good this style of music really is, when it’s not too overwrought or overthought. This leads to another rich track on this record, “Mercy” which is a lounge-y rock tune that really sort of checks all the boxes. It’s few and far between these days that anything that comes across my desk in the way of music seems to really excite me, but when it does, like it did in the way of Champs of the Sun’s The EP, it just reminds me why I continue to do what I do.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Critique/insightWe are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.
Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook
Archives
May 2024
|