Theatre Royal release fifth studio album Portraits


Theatre Royal




Medway-based four-piece Theatre Royal have released Portraits this month, their fifth studio album.

As befitting a band on their fifth album, Portraits sees Theatre Royal’s regular positivity put through the mill. Whereas on previous albums the upbeat bounce was infectious, the album cover in this case is reflective of the more sombre messages within.

It takes a while though; opening track A Marvellous Death is soaringly upbeat, a piece of boisterous British rock with watertight bass that transcends fads and movements. Equally as musically rollicking is Kasher, but in lyrics it’s a sombre tale of a child nursing a jackdaw to health before meeting resistance from adults. Later on, Tomorrow Now has the defiant gusto of a world-weary man on drums and guitar but is tempered by melancholia: ‘I’m packing away the hopes that we made.’

The history of British rock runs through the album like letters through a stick of rock. TV Blind is made of Britpop with singer Oliver Burgess evoking his inner Carl Barat, singing in a quintessentially English accent, whereas elsewhere he largely straddles Barat and Neil Finn. The kitchen-sink retro quality of Together We’re Alone stands out, while the military Callow features a middle-eight which is masterfully Harrison.

Out now on physical and digital formats, Portraits adds more depth to Theatre Royal’s already colourful palette.


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