The Radio Dept - Never Follow Suit

It seems a bit unfair to label The Radio Dept, an otherwise great band, with the tag Chillwave. Yeah, they like a bit of reverb, but their music takes on more of a reggae or Stuart Copeland twist and ends up sounding more relaxed. After their great album ‘Clinging To A Scheme’ earlier this year, they deserve more of an effort.

This EP really follows on from where ‘Clinging…’ left off, producing the nice relaxed sounds, but with their Scandinavian twist. A lot of it isn’t too far off of Air France as usual, but with that added bit of vocal sampling and lyrics, and less of a constant movement in the songs. There’s still that Summery feel to it, but it’s not as exclusive as it once was, it’s more relaxed; there are hints of Autumn too. It’s rather like those days when it’s grey outside and you think of laying out there in that same spot four months ago.

The only trouble with this is that it really is the ‘Never Follow Suit’ EP. The title track is great, a fantastic song, but the others seem a bit like filler. They’re interesting at the time, but not all that memorable. They’re just nice. A bit like Lotus Plaza’s solo stuff - can you remember in hindsight anything more than you liked it? Why make a substandard EP when you could make a great single. It’s a waste of a good song that deserved something better - something without padding.