Sir Sly Shows Off an Emotional and Musical Roller Coaster With New Album The Rise and Fall of Loverboy
4.4 out of 5 stars
I have listened to a decent amount of Sir Sly music, and I am still just not sure if I am a real fan or not. I do like individual songs, but overall, there are other parts of the music and lyrics that I can easily dislike.
This album has pushed me a little closer to really liking the band though.
The first song, "Honey" is a pretty good song, and sets a great tone for the album. It is within itself almost a soliloquy in the verse with a pop hook. It has a very Alt J sound to the song.
However, the very next song, “Loverboy” is actually one of my least favorite songs on the album. Of course, it happens to be the first single from the album as well (though I haven't heard it on the radio since I haven't listened to the radio since before the pandemic).
“Welcomes The Pressure” is a good recovery right after that though. It is a good song to be able to listen to in practically any setting. It is very uptempo, but it has a laid back vibe to it as well. Pretty hard to do, and Sir Sly creates a great song here. It reminds me a lot of MGMT’s music.
Bringing Gary Clark Jr. onto the song “Citizen” is a pretty good call. Clark Jr. is a fantastic musician. He isn’t utilized entirely that well in the song (mostly just the guitar and a bit of backing vocals, as far as I can tell), but the addition is noticeable and makes for a better song, in my opinion.
A few more highlights on this album include the songs “Numb” (a haunting and enjoyable introspection), “Material Boy” (an uptempo jam of self-faults - “I opened up my heart and found a spiritual void…”), and “b!!!rds” which is the last song on the album and leaves the album with a statement.
The whole album showcases a lot of vulnerability and mental fragility which I think has become a bit of the norm for rock bands releasing albums in 2021, but Sir Sly does it in a way that gives their music more depth.
I think the overall theme of this album is a slow dance of emotional instability that is disguised as a happy rock album that separates the good-times songs by jamming a sad song in there every so often to showcase the versatility of the music, but also to highlight the sentiments that a pandemic causes upon this band, artists and humans.
I am still not sure if I am a huge fan of the band as I was only a casual fan at best to this point, but this album is definitely a step in the right direction for my personal tastes.
You can check out the video for the first single "Loverboy" below.