Is Tropical - I’m Leaving

There is a sunny splendour that vaporises amidst ‘I’m Leaving’ and emanates, like a sonic steam bath, throughout, inherent within the record’s surprisingly catchy hooks and choruses. In the likes of ‘Dancing Anymore’ and ‘Toulouse’, inescapably captivating riffs and vocal runs take centre stage, bounding along with a grinning gaiety. But what is vital here, from the perspective of a listener, is a freewheeling sense of fun,wrapped up in a relaxed sense of humour, taking the snippets of synth glitch frenzy alongside the punch of pummelling indie rock riffs without reeling backwards in horror. However, there are moments where this musical dolly mixture turns somewhat sour.

Opener ‘All Night’ wanders into oddly structured rhythmic ideas, chucking in tinkling percussion, off kilter vocal pairs and strangely incessant synth until the thing disintegrates, like an ice cream in the sun. Thankfully, the first track isn’t the standard for the LP but, at times, these forced combinations creep into the midst of tracks, squirming their way into an uncomfortable shape and sound. When you start to spot these moments, the record loses its momentum, stumbling over itself in its attempt to sizzle and soar into fantastical, danceable territory. If you really wanna dance around these parts, you better keep a finger hovering over that skip button, just in case.

What Is Tropical do well, nonetheless, is supremely sunny choruses, fizzing with an alluring nature that can whisk up any listener into a sing-a-long after a couple of listens. The punch the air defiance of ‘Cry’ or the jingle jangle joy of ‘Sun Sun’ would bring the best out of any festival crowd, full of a vigour that remains unperturbed by the stop start nature of the album. If you pick and choose your way around the collection of jumbled songs on offer, maybe you’ll get the opportunity to revel in some speedy, sunny chimes for a little while, until that inevitable sundown, at least.