EP REVIEW: Superlove – Superlove
Superlove isn’t in the dictionary, but if it was, you can bet your bottom dollar it would be the word we all turn to when we’re radiating rainbows and waltzing on top of the world. Whilst it’s not quite in the Oxford classic just yet, Bristol’s noise-poppers SUPERLOVE have spent the summer simmering away in their music laboratory concocting the antidote to all the ailments of the world around us, and they’re ready to super inject their superlove on their self-titled EP.
If there’s one thing you’ll need to remember when you’re running through this collection, it’s that it’s as much a collision course in confectionary pop and arena-ready alt-rock as it is a peephole into the ancestry of the last decade’s descent into alt-pop territories. If you were to put a kaleidoscope to your eyes, you would surely find yourself flicking through the very fibres of SUPERLOVE’s DNA.
If the constricting confines of life in Lockdown have you looking towards memory lane for those moments dancing in the heat of the sun or the relentless of the rain at a festival, you’ll need to look no further than the show-stealing super-opener I Love It. Think the tenacity of Technology-era DON BROCO and the exuberance of electro-poppers NOISY amidst a rollickingly riotous rave of riffs that explode across the track, and you’ve basically got SUPERLOVE’s superhit in the making to a tee. Not one’s to rest on their laurels though, there’s nothing anywhere else on this self-titled collection that sounds remotely like it. It begs the question: is it brazen or bizarre?
Life Is Great is Glitterbug-era THE WOMBATS in all their indie synth-pop glory, colliding in a flash flood of festival-ready chorus colours that’ll have you chanting along wildly whilst THINK ABT U is a curveball you couldn’t see as ROYAL BLOOD-ripping riffs rumble into jangly indie-pop idioms. It’s a guilty pleasure waiting in the wings to surprise you, a little like how BABYMETAL popping up on the heaviest BRING ME THE HORIZON track we’ve heard in years caught you off guard. The former works wonders for the eardrums, whilst the latter leaves you suckered in but somewhat confused to what’s going on in SUPERLOVE’s court of creativity.
Whilst it’s safe to say that foregoing the barriers and boundaries of the codes and conventions of genres in favour of a pick-and-mix paint-splatter approach sets SUPERLOVE apart from their peers, there’s moments where they blunder so badly it brings the whole ship close to sinking. Bruce, for what it’s worth, may well be a stunning showcase of frontman Jacob Rice’s vocal capabilities, it’s a stodgy stinker that throws a spanner in the works as they wrestle with the sophistication of shoegaze and slow down the proceedings of an EP that’s otherwise spelling out the anthems of the year you needed to hear to get out of the Coronavirus headache.
Closer Untouchable is the Hannah Montana of the collection; it’s the best of both worlds as they meld the slinky synth-pop of Life Is Great with the alt-rock electricity of I Love It. It’s a much-needed palette cleanser from the pace-implosion that Bruce pulls, and ends the EP on a high, much like a concert would.
If SUPERLOVE’s self-titled EP was a set at a festival, it would be a surefire candidate for the concert of the weekend, an exuberant introduction to a trio who could quite easily become one of Britain’s biggest noisemakers making waves in the mainstream.
Rating: 8/10
Superlove is set for release on November 13th via Rude Records.
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