I was lucky enough to hear Tranqua Lite play ‘Retrogression’ at their recent gig at The Wardrobe; it was huge there and the single is equally as huge.
This thing is funky people, it’s as funky as hell. It’s infectious, way infectious. It’s dangerously addictive, I’ve been listening to this on repeat for around 40 minutes and I’m not bored yet! It’s never the same, it keeps changing. It’s all sorts of classic indie pop. It reminds me – in a really really great way – of that classic pop I really liked in the 80s. But is it retro, no way, this thing is bang up to date.
Lyrically the song visits the regressive rise of xenophobia and breaking apart of nations. “We really wanted to experiment with how setting people’s ‘teeth on fire’ and inflating them to the size of a ‘gas giant’ would work in a song.” explains lead singer Ben Marcano-Olivier “Retrogression is a playground for these ideas that we think more people should hear”.
Musically, Tranqua Lite have put together something that rewards repeated listening. You listen again and a keyboard sound pops up that you didn’t notice before, there’s a cowbell that you didn’t hear before. There’s a lot of sounds here but it doesn’t sound dense, it’s really cleverly put together. And when it rocks it rocks hard. And there are some great vocals, the harmonies are just so good. The other thing that really stands out is the drums and percussion, wow do these sound great.
In my live review I said the second track they played sounded a bit Yes-like. On the single ‘Retrogression’ has that as well. It’s ‘90215’ period Yes, it’s guitar driven but it’s deliciously wonderfully poppy. The phrase I used in my live review ‘it’s poppy but it’s alternative pop with a rock edge. It’s rock tinged pop with depth and thought’ sums this up really well.
Look, you like danceable poppy music listen to this, you like rocky guitar music listen to this. This thing is huge.
The info
Tranqua Lite are:
Ben Marcano-Olivier
Jacob Arundale
Toby Womack
Mike Pledge
Calum MacGregor
