With the grim outlook of post recession Britain leaving in its wake a generation of disenchanted souls balking at the prospect of working until well into their elderly years, barely having enough money to fund a regular intake of caffeine, let alone a car and mortgage enabling a fleeing from their well worn parental nest, there is a colossal cry for an escapist outlet like never before.
And spaced out pop act Paradise may well be the marker to set alternate reality seeking co-ordinates towards an ultimate goal of welcome oblivion.
Having existed as a musical entity for just over a year, the London based duo comprising Tony Harewood and Joseph Marshall are looking to make their first significant foray into the alternative music market with debut single ‘Endless Wave’, backed by Slapp Happy cover ‘Blue Flower’, to be released through The Blue Rider record label on November 26th.
An amalgamation of Beach Boys infused hymnal harmonies and the shoegaze-pop of contemporaries including Big Pink’s endorphin inducing, hazy instrumental make-up as part of the base melody, sees lead track ‘Endless Wave’ broadcast the band’s fully-formed ethereal sound.
The clarion call to naturally attained bliss in the repetition of the lines ‘all aboard my friends, here comes the endless wave’ instills an aura of meditative beach life tranquility to the overall feel of the track, with sprightly country infused lead guitar bursts creating a welcome brand of ecstasy juxtaposed with the mellowed out, floating reverberation in the vocal delivery. The spiralling head rush of sound then breaks out into the climatic spoken word closing, acting as the metaphorical adrenalin shot before the sedated comedown of a tune which delivers a smacked out, dulling of the senses difficult to encounter outside of prescribed narcotics.
The accompanying music video emphasises the tropical idyll thematic perfectly, with joyful scenes of the band running through sand dunes and absorbent colour hues during paint splattering fun in the rainforest creating a carefree Utopian vibe, enough to make the estranged characters of previous beach based television series Lost wish they’d crashed on this particular isle instead. The seeds sown since initial start up appear to have sprouted at breakneck speed to create an immersive, blossoming soundscape, reminiscent of a butterfly eagerly emerging from a chrysalis state into an impressive display of colour and youthful exuberance, brought to life through the aesthetically pleasing recorded video medium.
The understated, Velvet Underground inspired sound continues with an expansive cover of Slap Happy’s ‘Blue Flower’. With the original rhyming couplet strewn track having been penned during childhood, the band do well to encapsulate the naive innocence only youth can harness, best captured during the hopeless romantic musings of ‘superstar in your private movie, I just wanted a minor part’, invoking sympathetic feelings for the imagined child experiencing unrequited love for the first time. Throbbing bass and pounding drums are backed by a full gospel choir to give added weight to the attempted emotional anchoring in the subject matter as the central character accepts the fact that loving adoration may have to give way to purely platonic friendship.
Paradise – Blue Flower by Paradiselovesyou
Anyone with a penchant for droning, trippy melancholy, will almost certainly seek solace here as the band transport the listener to pleasantly naturalistic, drug addled otherworldly territory, all without the dent in the wallet or dicing with death aspect of taking the real thing.
With news of a full backing band accompanying the pair on a soon to be announced forthcoming tour it’s sure to be a spectacle worth taking in.
