BOCA and The Self-Titled EP.
BOCA – Isle Of Wight, England, United Kingdom.
Pop-Rock, a genre-moniker and label that because of the former part of it’s double barrelled name – as you’d expect – garners both criticism and disdain and often see’s people take a metaphorical side-step in the same way many people do with Pop-Punk. It’s a sad occurrence but a regular one nonetheless.
However, in the case of the Isle Of Wight based BOCA, it’s a badge they should and indeed do wear with pride. The band take influences from a wide array of modern Rock and Indie music, with names such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foals, Kings Of Leon and Vampire Weekend cited to name a few.
The band’s debut EP was actually released in 2014 but with the three-piece getting back at it now in 2018, it’s a release that deserves some attention. ‘Out Of Favour’ begins proceedings with a well-layered soft-Funk-esque bass and guitar serenade before soft melodic and thoughtful vocals add the final layer. The track could have easily continued in this Indie-Pop of sorts but instead, a contemporary flutter of the guitar strings leads to an Alternative Rock interlude of unexpected heaviness indicative of a band with a wide set of sonic inspirations.
If ‘Out Of Flavour’ was teasing then ‘Action’ is what it was teasing of. Tuneful, soaring creschendo-led melodies throw you a progressive vibe into a main verses barely restraining the band’s penchant for heaviness. If this is Pop-Rock on the underground then I want to hear more of it and see it more popularised. ‘Action’ is well-put together sonically and verbally well written, it carries all the hallmarks of a good pop-song but filters it through well-researched Alternative Rock and sits arguably as the best of the four.
BOCA are quintessentially British in sound and they wear this openly. In fact they could easily contend with any of the bigger names from the past decade of Alternative and Indie Rock and ‘Elevator’ is very much evidence of this. Again, it shows BOCA to be able to transition between the more Pop elements of their sound and the gratuitous but not unwelcome heavier forays.
‘High’ and it’s musical backing convulses gently back down the road to the Soft-Funk bar we were sat at the beginning of this eponymous release, in a manner reminiscent of the softer tracks or elements from One Hot Minute-era Red Hot Chili Peppers. The chorus is very much Pop-Rock all over but with the lighter-guitars locked in an entertaining battle with – you guessed it – a rebellious heavy streak.
In fact, the writing of this very sentence proved to be quite difficult and resulted in so many typing errors from 2:50 to the very end of the track that it wasn’t really very readable. I’ll let you work out why while you’re dancing around your kitchen.
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