By Declan Roberts (@DeclanMR)
Imagine a sunnier, tropical version of Wu Lyf or an up-tempo Copacabana Hard-Fi and Sun Club is what you get. Mixing Splashh melodies with booming vocals Sun Club’s The Dongo Durango promotes a paradoxically rebellious and systematic sing-along.
‘Summer Feet’ opens proceedings in exotic fashion. ’Worm City’ is quite something. Think Jonathan Higgs from Everything Everything teaming up with the surrealistic elements of Bowie’s Kingdom. Hard-hitting, extravagant and vibrantly interesting.
‘Carnival Dough’ rumbles accordingly but duller moment ‘Language Juice’ offers nothing new. From here it all feels slightly rushed and directionless. The album begins to feel like feels like one long, indistinguishable track. After a promising start the slog begins to set in.
‘Cheeba Swiftkick’ delights with the song title but has no structure and drifts off into a murky unknown. ‘Puppy Gumgum’ and ‘Dress Like Mothers’ form a hopeful horizon of superb drum lines and fuzzy chords, ending strong on the scream-surf of ‘Tropicoller Lease’, a personal favourite.
Sun Club have plenty of potential but their output on The Dongo Durango is in need of refinement. With the right producer overseeing the ragged edges and loose thread could have been brought together into a cohesive whole. Give it another shot lads.
The Dongo Durango is out today via ATO Records.
