Not so long ago I
wrote an article about warm-up acts. I talked about how futile the whole
enterprise is. How annoying. My key point being – even if they are good, your
mind is elsewhere. You’ve come for the real thing. You are underwhelmed.
However, there are
exceptions.
I have only just
found out about Retoryka, thanks to a London live show from Luke Haines
presenting his latest subversive concept album, British Nuclear Bunkers (on which more later). And it’s not that
Retoryka is such an entertaining live act. Not at all. It’s just that certain
songwriting cannot be denied.
My baby, you sure like to party
Daily Instagram your latte
This is great
songwriting in my book. Lyrics come from “The Great Beauty” off the band’s
debut EP, Super Maudlin, and God
knows I want more. They have a wonderful ability to hit on a lovely melodic
groove and milk it in a very intelligent way for 3-plus minutes.
I guess there will be
people who will hear this Super Maudlin
and think: “So what?” To me, they have something about them that goes beyond
cheap reference points. They have the style and they have the tunes. I genuinely
want to know where they go from here. In this day and age, you can only gamble on posterity. I hope they do.
