I always get excited when submissions arrive into our mailbox from Finnish Indie Rock bands, the last year we've had 2 particularly fine releases come through this channel - notably The Stillwalkers of course, and also Giant Giant - and we'll have more on both those bands shortly. So as soon as 'Royal Lips' and their EP 'Serene Calmidity' arrived I was taking a listen, and it is a really likeable release - whilst essentially they have the feel of a Garage Indie Rock / Punk band, their music is big, bold and has a real ambition about it.
So Royal Lips are a 4 piece band from the beautiful looking provincial city of Kuopio - the type of place that the Finnish Music and Tourist industry should rightly fund us to visit next summer for a 'fact finding' mission to identify new artists. The band were formed back in 2006 originally as a side project and whilst this is their 4th EP, this is the first release that some of you in the UK will be able to access given it's the easiest to find on streaming services.
The EP opens with the title track 'Serene Calmidity', a simple enough indie guitar line and confident vocals before the track explodes into life with a huge chorus and catchy melody. But it is the scale of the song in the later stages that I like, and the only criticism I have is that they didn't find a 64 piece Symphony Orchestra providing huge sweeping musical arrangements to back them up, as the track seems to warrant it. And 'Red Carpet' has really grown on me over the last couple of weeks, it has more of a post punk feel to it, with staccato choppy guitars before we're offered an extraordinary Saxophone solo to finish. 'Mountains' has had less of an impact on me, but I still like the central instrumental section in particular.
'Royal Lips' may be a Garage Indie Punk style band, but their music is bigger than that, and they have the feel of a band who will let their music go in whatever direction they please. 'Serene Calmidity' is an enjoyable EP with big vocal melodies and good guitar lines, so we hope you enjoy listening to it on your latest music playlists.
or Listen through Spotify: http://spoti.fi/1SEqinr