Tag: LOYAL Everything (She)

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their critically applauded debut single “Blue & The Green” back in 2016, the Brighton UK-based collective LOYAL, comprised of James Day, Laurence Allen and Alex Cowen, quickly emerged into the national scene, receiving regular rotation on BBC Radio 1. The act’s lineup began to expand with the release of “House For You,” which found the then-trio collaborating with fellow Brighton-based artist Beth Molly Moore — and as result of that successful collaboration, the act eventually expanded to a septet.

Interestingly, over the course of an expanding catalog, the band has increasingly moved from standard house music songwriting approaches and digital production towards a disco-influenced sound, focusing on groove and analog production and instrumentation, at points drawing influence from R&B, indie rock pop and funk. Now, as you may recall, I wrote about the Nile Rodgers and Chic and Daft Punk-like  “Everything (She)” off the collective’s forthcoming Patterns That Fall EP, a track that featured a wobbling synths, a soaring hook, a funky bass line and guitar line, making it a winning combination of anachronistic vibes, old-timey production and sound and club-banging grooves.

Centered by twinkling keys, a sinuous bass line, soaring strings, a choral-like vocal delivery by the act’s lead and backing vocalist and an infectious, dance floor-friendly hook, the EP’s latest single “Crave It Still” manages to bring Nile Rodgers and Chic, Escort and Studio 54 to mind, but with subtle electronic flourishes that include arpeggiated blasts of synth and a thumping, muscular kick. Much like its preceding singles, the track is a slickly produced, anachronistic synthesis of 70s disco and funk, electro pop and contemporary neo-disco. “Lyrically, ‘Crave It Still’ started as a poem, a stream of consciousness about craving nothing in particular; maybe a lost love, a drug, a partner you shouldn’t be with but can’t help going back to. We held the poem in our back-pocket for a while, then eventually fashioned the New York disco sound while we were on our first-ever writing trip to the city itself. We recorded in a beautiful studio tucked away in an industrial park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, alongside some fantastic local writers and musicians. They laid out a killer foundation, all New York, and we built from there.”

Look for LOYAL’s Pattern That Fall on April 26, 2019.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their critically applauded debut single “Blue & The Green” back in 2016, the Brighton UK-based collective LOYAL, comprised of James Day, Laurence Allen and Alex Cowen, quickly emerged into the national scene, receiving regular rotation on BBC Radio 1.  “Everything (She)” is the first single from the act’s forthcoming EP and sonically the song finds the trio drawing from Nile Rodgers and Chic-era disco, Daft Punk-like house music and funk as its centered around a production consisting of a throbbing bass line, a funky guitar line, wobbling synths, and a soaring hook that features a choir — and interestingly the song manages to be a winning combination of a familiar and beloved dance floor friendly sound, tight hooks, slick production and mischievously anachronistic vibes; but underneath such a self-assured song is an aching longing for one’s everything . . .

As the trio says of the song, “‘Everything (She)’ is our first single since ‘Light Up for You.’ Towards the end of our last EP, the world we were crafting with our music was beginning to become slightly less pixelated and more defined. Maybe too defined…Our mission has always been for our words and music to tell the listener more about themselves then it tells them about us and our experiences. Who are we anyway? We are just a vessel – and we respect that what listeners may gleam from our music has potential to be far greater than our initial design.

It may sound cryptic to some – but for us it’s simple. With “Everything (She)” we explore the power of our ‘everything’. It may be a lover to some, a drug to others, perhaps a hero who lights your eyes when not all is going your way…”