As the press release pitches it, ‘Boytoy is a summer-time strut down a New York City sidewalk as the sun slips behind the horizon where cement meets the shore and waves crash on pavement. Their sound ebbs and flows between natural harmony and destruction—embodying the bright grooves of the 1960’s with heavy guitar riffs snatched from the Lower East Side of the 1970’s’.
It’s retro alright. With its hazy production and lilting harmonies which breeze over jangling guitars and shuffling drums, it sounds remarkably convincing. So convincing, in fact, if there was a fictional biopic about a band from the late 60s / early 70s, ‘Night Leaf’ could well be its soundtrack. It’s well-crafted, well-studied, well-observed, well-executed. It has some nice songs, but they all sounds like myriad pre-existing songs and as such sort of settle into the position f sonic wallpaper, even when they turn up the guitars and get a bit 90s alt-rock.
|
Bringing together Jefferson Airplane, Fleetwood Mac and The Monkees with a dash of postmodern self-awareness, ‘Night Leaf’ (which to me connotes late-night toking, as does the music itself), is a nice album. It’s intended to be a nice album, too. So, job done and mission accomplished. And fair play.
|
