Album Review: Bang Bang Romeo – Shame on You EP
Last week, the world of soul lost one of its most prominent sisters, Aretha Franklin. The same week in August also welcomed in the debut release from a band fronted by a woman who may step in and nab the moniker of ‘Queen of Soul’ one day. Doncaster may be a long way from Detroit, but Bang Bang Romeo are also not your average rock band.
The strong songs on their ‘Shame on You’ EP demonstrate the powerful vocals of Anastasia Walker and booming instrumentation by Ross Cameron and Richard Gartland, albeit presented with a Los Angeles sheen. The record starts (sorry in advance for the pun) with a bang with the title track. ‘Shame on You’ benefits from Walker’s forceful delivery and the track’s emphatic percussive beats. Are lust and desire good or bad? How about wanting things we can’t have? From the mental confusion of ‘better the devil you know than the devil you don’t’ (I think) when it comes to love and lust, we move swiftly on to the driving ‘Cemetery’.
As if to prove their chops, Bang Bang Romeo slow things down immediately after with ‘Adore Me’. Walker’s soaring vocals make this tune a winner; dripping with its stated “bittersweet” emotions, she repeatedly asks, “do you adore me?” This is their stadium moment: the song builds towards a commanding crescendo, Walker holding court comfortably with her voice at its figurative peak. On ‘Bag of Bones’, Walker confronts self-esteem and body images: “I’ve got a wicked soul / still my heart can bleed / I’m so much more / I’ve got a bag of bones”. It’s an anthem not just for young girls but for all of us, a stern, arse-kicking reminder that we’re more than the skin we find ourselves in.
The collection ends on a blistering note, with another stadium-sized track ‘Chemical’. Previously released as their debut single last year, it bears the line “it’s much more when it comes, like a hurricane gunning for war”. The song caps off an exemplary set of songs; like a series of fireworks, the ‘Shame on You’ EP writes high in the sky of Bang Bang Romeo’s ascending potential.
9/10
The ‘Shame on You’ EP from Bang Bang Romeo is out now from Eleven Seven Label Group. The video below is a year old, but it proves that even before American A&R bods got a hold of them, they had loads of talent.
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