There is something quite brilliant about the way Duncan Lloyd creates a pop sound that feels the opposite of what pop has become in modern times. As “Rituals” grooves and shimmers along, you realize that, while it is infectious as hell, there is nothing obvious about it, as if it feels that it is too cool to be regarded as pop music but also somehow is the best pop song that you have heard in a long time and brilliantly capturing that feeling of dissengagement that The Cure turned to their advantage on so many songs.
I guess that is what happens when you just ignore fads and fashion, when you are happier swimming upstream through the zeitgeist but still want to make music that, in a better world, would be what pop music is all about. It’s a conundrum. A brilliant conundrum!
But then Duncan Lloyd knows a thing or two about making music that cuts through expectation and conformity, both as the driving force behind Maximo Park and also the music he makes with Sarah Suri in the Nano Kino.
Although perhaps not massively representative of the album to follow, “Unwound,” which drops next month, it is, however, one of those songs that becomes more appealing, not to mention more rewarding, with every spin.
Bandcamp
Spotify
Laugh So Loud video
Get the single
Bandcamp
Spotify
