Ahead of their anticipated show at The Cutting Room in NYC this Friday, Rebel Kicks have delivered a taste of what to expect with their captivating new single “Past Life.” If this track is anything to go by, attendees of the upcoming gig are in for an unforgettable experience.
Rebel Kicks have hit upon a particular vehicle for their musical vision that you won’t soon forget. Love, like, dismiss, or disdain the band’s new single “Past Life”, pick your position, but you cannot deny the song. This young unit’s songwriting, ensemble, and performing talents are growing at an exponential rate without any ceiling on the imminent horizon. You can hear audible influences from earlier acts informing their music, but Rebel Kicks also leans on a thoroughly modern sound that covers a large canvas and commands the listener’s attention.
The band doesn’t let the single drone on too long. Rebel Kicks maintains a clear focus on their vision for the track from the outset and it comes across as a performance where they outlined every goal before beginning the recording process. You can’t help but admire the production as well. It makes Rebel Kicks sound impossibly large, inflating a rather straightforward pop-rock song with some kind of epic grandeur.
It’s about a familiar trope in popular music, the song of desire, but Rebel Kicks deserves plaudits for spinning it in their own way. One of its best, high-profile attributes is the obvious personality present in both the writing and particularly the performance. Rebel Kicks approaches the song’s vocals in such a way, with duel voices, that it amplifies the track’s melodic effects on the listener.
The New York City-based four-piece has a big-city sound, wide-screen without ever sounding bloated, and its single release positions “Past Life” as a representative track from the band’s forthcoming EP. somewhere.in.between will likewise surely leave us wanting for a full-length release from the band because there’s nothing about “Past Life” that suggests that cannot match or surpass its high level of songcraft over the course of a handful or more tracks.
There’s plenty of room here for more. You can’t help but hear the big-tent sound that Rebel Kicks has – this band sounds like they can essentially play any style, master it, and it comes out sounding like Rebel Kicks, nothing else. That sort of telepathic connection between musicians doesn’t always happen, but magic is afoot when it does. “Past Life” accomplishes that.
It’s all the more impressive considering the song’s oddball subject matter. Building the song’s chorus around the trope of reincarnation is an imaginative touch that, among others, helps set the band apart from their brethren. There will be more to come. It isn’t difficult to feel a little excited about the EP to come once you’ve listened to “Past Life” a few times and it’s a safe bet that such anticipation will end up being justified.
Garth Thomas