- Label
- EMI
- Release date
- 2nd June 2008
- Genre
- Indie rock
- Buy this album
- Order CD
London pop-futurists arrive fully formed and ready for action
Like Blur, Royworld formed at London's Goldsmith's College, but cheeky-chappie musical Cockneyisms are not their bag. Instead, they major in an elaborate, melodramatic piano-driven pop shot through with audacious ambition and, for a debut album, a remarkable level of self-assurance and panache. They know exactly what they are doing, and it shows.
Vocalist Rod Futrille's hyper-mannered theatrical vocal can recall Bryan Ferry's warble at the outset of Roxy Music, or Russell Mael of Sparks at his most deliciously overwrought. The hammered keyboards and hyperventilating positivity of Dust are reminiscent of the New Radicals' pathologically perky You Get What You Give, but Royworld have another trick up their sleeves: the elegiac closing confessional ballad Tinman could sit easily on any Coldplay album. They sound both hungry and old beyond their years - a striking combination, and one that makes Man In The Machine an exceptional debut.
More to try: Sparks: Kimono My House New Radicals: Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too The Feeling: Join With Us
