In the Groove
The Red Eyes
Red Army
Emanating out of Jamaica in the 1960s, reggae has found fertile ground in many parts of the world. Melbourne’s Red Eyes are one of a legion of Australian bands (such as The Upsteppers, Fyah Walk, Bomba) following the path. Their new album takes the traditional reggae/dub style ingredients (keyboard and guitar skanks, delay effects, politically charged lyrics) and adds a bit of electronic spice to create a very convincing dub party vibe. The single from the album is fairly straightforward cover of a Talking Heads song from 1983 – I Get Wild/Wild Gravity. However, there are stronger originals on the CD including Titokowaru’s War, a song about the conflict between European settlers and the Ngati Ruanui Maori tribe in New Zealand in the 1860s, or a bit closer to home, Inside Out, which was evidently inspired by street brawls in Melbourne. The horn section does a great job throughout the album, from the wistful melancholy of Can You Hear It to the punchy and stately work on Soul’s Almighty. The album features very clean production, with variations in the groove zone from track to track and lots of spicy bits of ear candy to keep things interesting throughout. Well worth checking out when the play live at the Beach Hotel in Byron on Sunday, June 6.
