Seratones - 'Power' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Fear

2. Power

3. Heart Attack

4. Lie To My Face

5. Gotta Get To Know Ya

6. Over You

7. Permission

8. Sad Boi

9. Who Are You Now

10. Crossfire

If 60’s girl bands had gotten into Psychedelic, discovered new soundscapes and also discovered Indie music then they would have made the first track on this album, it’s unexpected and brilliant in its own way, it hooked me instantly into wanting to hear what they did next.

The second song builds on the strong start, this may not be to everyone’s taste but it’s well worth giving it a try, you might just find yourself, like me, hooked! I don’t know anything about this band but the lead singer has a fantastic voice and the band keep providing perfect playing to back her up, towards the end of the second song I thought it was going to morph into Otis, the thing is, it would have worked.

I honestly, briefly, thought the third song was going to reference Aneka’s 'Japanese Girl' (it didn’t), by this stage I wasn’t ruling anything out with what this band might do. I suspect they could pick any genre and have a good stab at writing the perfect song in it.

Many of the songs hinted strongly at the influences on show ‘if you see me walking down the street’ as a line is well known, it’s lifted and inserted here and fits perfectly in, you don’t want to walk on by. This happens with a few songs, there is a line that you think is about to take you into a cover but it’s never any more than one line which still gives this song a hook and a reference point but it never, ever, overpowers any of the songs or makes this feels like pastiche.

'Gotta Get To Know Ya' made me want to get up and dance, not something that happens often with new music these days.

There is even a hint of a Prince influence in one song but it’s so hard to pin down who all of the influences are, but they is clearly a lot of different bands and artists they have listened to.

There is a huge amount of talent and ambition here, I’m not sure it all works 100%, but, when it works it’s fantastic. They want to try things, they want to push the edges but they have the talent and the song writing skills to do so.

Seriously, just go listen now, this is a real surprise and delight of an album with a singer who could probably sing anything and make it sound amazing. But it’s not just her voice, the band are tight and clearly excellent musicians. I’m not sure who writes and arranges the music but they clearly know what they’re doing.

If this band aren’t massive then there is no justice in this world!