KING THING - TROPHY WIVES CD SINGLE.

New band who've not been around long on the Dundee scene, but who are already getting talked about by other bands, which is always a good sign. This first foray into the recorded work is actually eight minutes which come across exceedingly well. For a start, it reveals that the band can actually write some good original compositions. Decidedly an "indie" band, they tend to come at it from a completely different angle, with a sort of adrenaline rush of solid but not overbearing indie-rock. The lead track is actually a mix of anthemic and laid-back with a particularly fine lead and harmony vocal, as the three minutes of soaring songwriting takes off, with some tasty surges of guitar work backing a band performances that really takes off then slides back to earth before taking off once more. Played a few times on the trot, it actually becomes quite catchy as well as revealing itself to be the sort of song that you can play and play yet which doesn't stick in your head to such an extent that you feel you could ever get sick of it. "Too Fat" is faster but assumes many of the same aspects, only here you don't get the slower bits as a positive indie adreanaline rush of a song kicks into gear with a spirited performance and more smooth running vocals and harmonies. "Bosstrad", a homage to bosses that don't exactly endear themselves to you, is similarly paced, even faster at times, and this time the vocals vie with some excellent guitar breaks and a sense of dynamics in the arrangements that really sizzles and makes the track a solid and particularly excellent closer to the single.
Overall, it's a really excellent set of songs, the potential of which doesn't always comes across live due to the fact that the vocalist has such a paid-back approach - my advice to the band would be when you hit that stage, make sure the vocals are higher in the mix, 'coz these songs deserve to be heard.

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