You See I Got a Plan, We’re Gonna See This Band

Retro has made a big comeback over the past half decade ranging from the ultra polished soul singers like Amy Winehouse to the lo-fi rockers like Best Coast. El Paso garage band The Royalty sits somewhere in the middle, a garage rock band with Vampire Weekend style guitar flairs with a singer that sounds heavily influenced by the Motown girl groups of the sixties.

Their first album via Victory Records Lovers effortless transitions between power-pop songs like Bartender or Mr. Hyde and songs that sound like fuzzed out guitar versions of The Ronettes songs like How I Like ‘Em or Other Boys. The upbeat I Want You is just pure fun and should be added to every party you are planning on hosting this summer. Actually most of Lovers will take you back to your early summer days (even if you didn’t grow up in the sixties where a lot of the sounds on the album come from) like the sweet Bottle Breaker.

As the album goes on, the more adventurous the band gets. Every Little Bit starts off with a similar drum beat from Lykki Li’s Get Some and features a chant along chorus. If the youth of America listened to better music, Witchcraft would be a middle school slow dance staple for the next half a decade at least. The Royalty even pulls out an epic Saint Bowie which is the closest they get to a stadium anthem. The album then ends with the sweet piano-based Won’t Be Long which shows how the band could be even more versatile on future albums.

Song to Download – I Want You

Lovers gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.