At only four tracks long there isn’t a great deal of time to express themselves within or to make an impact, but somehow they’ve managed both to an impressive degree. It all feels very natural & that lets it connect & entrance its audience.
Rock
Even having heard the project in full, there’s a lot left to the imagination – there are still many questions about the meanings of these songs & the feelings involved in the creative process; as was often the case with genuine grunge & alternative rock music.
This new release from The Striped Bananas is a re-working of their first album from back in 2012, with a few new additions. There’s perhaps a more raw, classic progressive rock feel to this one than last year’s project.
The rush of our routine connects to this concept of the rat race, not leaving ourselves free to consider the truth or to discuss ideas about the underlying point of existence. It’s a heavy topic, but they’re a heavy band & more than equipped to tackle it.
Andrej’s approach to musicality is one of a natural connection to the art, it seems that he has taken on the essence of this song’s concept & considered every possible way to represent it.
Hype! is an album ready & waiting to fill the room around you with chaotic energy & classic rock & roll brightness. It’s a project fit for the build-up to anything big – consider this your weekend playlist.
The duo exercise a sheer love for music – their passion runs through everything, making this far more about the writing & the expression & being lost in the moment than anything deeply rooted in genre or specific styles.
It feels real, and this is why it’s so heartbreaking to listen to. The picture is being painted in front of you, as opposed to you being merely shown a photograph of it.
Their lyrics intrigue & mystify, they offer insight & provoke a certain level of thought that’s brilliantly backed up by the mood of the music.
The sound has a flawless melodic flow to it, so much so that it seems likely a live show would have you standing in awe at the purity and colour of it.
Tough On Fridays have an unexpectedly beautiful sound that creates a vast arena of contrast around you between the thick, distorted energy of the instrumentation & the gentler, expressive feel of the leading voice.
You can really lose yourself in this album as a playlist, the music is thick & loud & lets you escape reality, but at the same time – the songs deal with issues of the heart; things that matter, things that affect people.