In this weekly series, Entertainment Editor Austin Schouman picks a random album from an artist he has never heard of before and reviews it.
Album: Royal EP
Artist: The Royal Concept
Genre: Alternative
If you can only buy one song buy: On Our Way
Rating: B+
I’ll be honest, I had no idea who The Royal Concept was before I reviewed Royal EP. I chose to review this EP based solely on the fact that their name sounded kind of mysterious and the cover art reminded me of a Criss Angel special I saw on TV when I was 12. Seeing as mysterious things creep me out and Criss Angel has been irrelevant since I watched that special it’s safe to say that my expectations weren’t the highest going in. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.
Royal EP by The Royal Concept was released in America on Sept 24. The EP marks the American release for the Swedish band. It’s a shame they haven’t released more material outside of Sweden because out of the six songs on the EP, I enjoyed all of them. The band mixes electronic sounds with guitar to create a sunshine and daisies sound. Fans of Phoenix will feel right at home.
The opening track, “World on Fire”, wastes no time laying the groundwork for the overall sound of the album, kicking things off with a simple electronic beat before sprinkling in a little bit of guitar followed by an explosion of a chorus. It’s a really simple formula that didn’t get old. The next track, “On Our Way”, builds on this by stripping the unnecessary crud away and leaving behind only the important stuff. Driven by it’s fast drums and lively vocals (performed by Frans Povel and David Larson respectively), that maturation of the formula culminates in hands down the best track on the EP.
In fact, every song (with the exception of “Radio” and maybe “Shut the World”) follows that same formula with minor tweaks in pacing and sound. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing. It feels awkward to listen to an upbeat song that is then immediately followed by a somber epic about the songwriter’s dead cat or whatever. The similar style of the songs makes the album more focused. It makes it easy to say that if you’re looking for something to make you feel happy, this is it.
Royal EP by The Royal Concept is a very solid piece of music. While their style is not entirely original (seriously, play a Royal Concept song and a Phoenix song back to back and you’ll be hard pressed to find some differences) their sound is certainly addictive. At a price of only $5.24 on iTunes, they’re worth every penny.