I’m not sure what I expected from a chap with a name reminiscent of a Regency-era poet and who looks like he should be modeling Pendleton’s latest range of plaid shirts, but it certainly wasn’t this. With his tongue pressed firmly in his cheek, well, let’s hope so, Pembroke Tenneson charges through the idea of rock star charisma and celebrity sex appeal…hence the single’s title…a song whose message seems to only be getting more poignant as the modern world falls for style over substance, hook, line and sinker.
As he muses on the nature of the attraction that comes with rock star status, reminding us that just by virtue of being in a band and treading the boards, he is automatically more desirable than 97.3% of the male population, he rams the message home (I say!) with some low-slung, raucous, raw and raunchy rock ‘n’ roll riffs. ‘Sex Appeal’ is cool, cocky, and contagious; it runs on groove and innuendo in equal measure, is eminently sing-along-able, and is fun and full of mischief, and is delivered with a knowing wink indicating that he knows we know he is in on the joke. Either that or he’s flirting with your girlfriend!
Depending on whether you take him at his word, Pembroke Tenneson is either wonderfully self-deprecating, loves a joke, and is up for a good time, or a narcissistic ego-maniac you shouldn’t be left alone in a room with. But as this is rock ‘n’ roll…either is fine!
