Red Riders - ReplicaReplica

Sun 17th Dec, 2006 in Music Reviews

Ultra-hip Sydney band Red Riders have the PR dream package. They’re young, attractive, have a great website and EP design, and most importantly, they write ridiculously catchy indie pop tunes. Their Plan A EP was punchy and lighthearted, filled with two minute energetic tunes that made you want to sing along and shoulder shuffle to the beat (any more enthusiasm might be considered uncool). You could pick their influences from a mile off, but what they were doing was fun and original.

Recorded in Byron Bay earlier this year, Replica Replica was the highly anticipated first album for the young rockers, even getting write-ups in TV Hits. Even getting to make an album in a time where Australian Idol contestants outsell pretty much anything that the indie scene can throw at the consumer market deserves recognition. But, simply put – it’s a shame that the much more difficult process of filling an entire album has not been a challenge that the band has been able to meet completely.

The Red Riders have obviously gone for a much darker approach with Replica Replica – more straight rock tracks and longer running times lead to the album becoming what the band call a ‘guitar album’. With this approach, absent are a lot of the catchy riffs that set them apart with their earlier recordings. The slower songs such as Crawl Back Baby, while pretty, could really have come from any rock outfit and quickly fall away as forgettable ballads.

The band still ‘do’ catchy – Slide In Next To Me and kick-start opener C’mon both tracks have radio appeal and a genuinely interesting to listen to. Sing-along tracks A.S.P.R.I.N and the groovy What they say About Us are my standout album tracks as they both have those catchy melodies that you find yourself humming while in line at the supermarket.

As a CD sitting on the racks at your local JB Hi-Fi, Replica Replica does have appeal. This review may have been tainted as their previous work gave me high expectations for the album, but I found there to be just too many tracks that were easily skipped through and all my ‘dream album’s’ leave me hanging on for the next song when listening all the way through. Red Riders have made a good start with Replica Replica, I just believe there is greater things to come.