New Jersey’s Cecilia Della Peruti’s debut as nom de guerre Gothic Tropic is an exciting one. There are clear influences from the classics to spot here, like Bowie and Talking Heads, but it also reminds me at times of newer things like
last year’s excellent debut by schizophrenic duo Sego or the grown-up electro-pop of St. Vincent. Lead-single
and album-opener ‘Stronger’ is probably the best way in, all propulsive bass
and drums pushing things along like an early Arcade Fire track. But quite a variety of pop gems are to be found on Fast Or Feast, with Peruti showcasing impressive range (especially as
pretty much every sound you hear on the record was made by her), while at the
same time keeping things stylistically coherent. ‘How Life Works’ is more ethereal than ‘Stronger’,
with a great guitar part sitting well with an underlying synth swell into a terrific
chorus. ‘Chemical Trail’, on the other hand, is understated mood-pop that’s
closer in tone to 90s trip-hop. Having
now put the touring musicians together, it will be interesting to see if Gothic Tropic remains a solo project on album two, or whether there’ll be a Foo Fighters to The Colour And The Shape esque transition to ‘band’ status. Either way, it’ll be worth investigation. Accomplished stuff for album one.
sample track: Stronger