Roy - Tacomatose

Roy
Tacomatose
Initial Records
Grade: A-

As their first release on Initial, Roy serves a secret alterna-life for its members. Specifically, the four-piece from Tacoma, WA, hail from Botch, These Arms Are Snakes and Harkonen. On this five-song EP, Roy sets out to dominate the indie world with lanky and swirling song structures and, more noticeably, guitars. Roy's influences spread far and wide though they limit the range of variance in their own songs. For instance, on the best song on the EP "The Bolivian Army Lays Siege to Seattle," the echoes of the Pixies fly far and near - that helps bring it to the top. The poppiness to the song underlies the stop the coke snortin' in the NW message. Probably one of the best-named songs seen around in several months of releases is the opening track "T Town Concrete." I assume it's a play on E-Town Concrete, everyone's favorite hoodcore band from Elizabethtown, NJ, which makes it all the more funny given it's coming from an indie band. "We Didn't Evolve" pursues the acoustic mellow track to rock, while "Tell It True" is considerably poppy and has an element of Beach Boys' harmonies squeezing out. The EP concludes with "Lightweights Exclusively" - another mellow song with a slow Promise Ring harmony. Roy possesses so much talent that hopefully they will devote more time to their indie pursuits from their hardcore day jobs.