This is actually a bit old now, but what the hell. We tweeted about it when it came out, but never mentioned it on here. Which is a shame. It’s good, deserving of a lot more attention, and they’ve been generous enough to upload the audio for all of the tracks onto their YouTube channel – so it’s just crying out to be shared.
It’s the ‘I Am Somebody’ EP. The debut EP from Pink Pistols, who made their first appearance at this year’s Melodifestivalen with a track also titled ‘I Am Somebody’. That song was “alright” (although in fairness, we like it a lot more now than we did back then), but every track on the EP is better. So that’s a nice turn up for the books, isn’t it?!
‘Wake-Up Call’ (written by Peter Hägerås) sounds like it could have been taken from September’s ‘Love CPR’ album – turbo powered dancepop, with an epic electronic edge. ‘Romeo’ (Peter Hägerås/Charlie Mason) is like ‘Wake-Up Call’s schlager orientated little sister, and would have been a much better Melodifestivalen entry than what we got in the end. It probably has the catchiest chorus of the lot on here too. ‘Sweet Revenge’ (Aleena Gibson/Par Lonn/Susie Päivärinta) can’t help but draw comparisons with the decade old Michael Jackson sampling ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ by BeatFreakz – but that’s no bad thing. It’s another Love CPR-esque dance floor commander, with that perhaps all-too familiar chorus melody. Finally, ‘Set Me Free’ (Peter Hägerås) has the quartet channelling their inner Swedish House Gay Mafia – an imitation that they all muster the balls for which to deliver quite convincingly. Obviously their tuck isn’t THAT tight.
It’s a bloody good EP for an act that at first appeared to have just been cobbled together to deliver a quota for SVT’s wish list of boxes to tick heading into Melodifestivalen 2014. A very strong collection that’s consistent in its sound and its style. There are a few different sub-genres of dancepop that have been explored, but all are speckled with the act’s trademark colour. Drag acts and Queer artists more often than not fall into the trap of churning out records that are all style over substance. But the ‘I Am Somebody’ EP has both by the bucketload.
A shame that we won’t get a second single from it, but the band themselves have confirmed to us that they’re already working on new music and thus a follow-up. Marvellous news. More of the same please, guys and girls.
Listen;
Wake-Up Call
Romeo
Sweet Revenge
Set Me Free
