With "Rest Room", New Zealand indie band Recliner offer a hypnotic mix of sombre tones and lighter musical interludes that seduces on first listen and doesn't let go.
- Genre: indie / alternative / pop
- Belinda Bradley (vocals), Guy Wishart (guitar), Vernon Rive (bass), Darlene Te Yong (vocals), Perry Bradley (synthesisers / samples), Michael Te Young (drums), Dave White (guitar)
- Sounds like: Shakespeare's Sister, Massive Attack, Gum
- Home: Auckland, New Zealand
- Recliner
Love And No Regrets
The sign of a good album is that you can happily listen to it again; the sign of a great album is that it comes to an end all too soon, and you immediately want to listen to it again. With Rest Room, New Zealand band Recliner have given us an album that unequivocally falls into the latter camp.
With a hint of Shakespeare's Sister mixed with how Marilyn Manson might sound if he sung a lullaby, Rest Room is a collection of dark, moodily atmospheric songs that dig deep into your psyche without you even realising it – then when you do, it's too late; you're already hooked.
Opening track Ugly (He Says That He Loves You) is a prime example of what Recliner is all about. A bitter love song with no irony whatsoever, it's a slow-burning respite to a rival in love, with almost whispered vocals from Belinda. So venomous is the attack on her rival, you wonder how this incandescently beautiful singer can possess such vitriol.
Finding Beauty In Destruction
There's a touch of classic Kate Bush on next track Single File, with its breathy vocals and backing soft howls. This is impressive stuff; dark, yet melodic, almost like love itself – one minute wonderful, the next lying all around you in tatters, and a contrast that Recliner bring to each song on this album.
Indeed, never have a band and an album name been so apt – there's such a relaxing, hypnotic feel to Rest Room that Recliner is exactly what springs to mind here; pull yourself up your most comfortable sofa, press play, and let the music sweep over you, as is evident on Makes No Sense, its deep bass pulsating you to somewhere deep inside your soul.
From Out Of The Shadows
Yet as dark as Recliner's music is, there are lighter moments. True, with its offbeat drumming and almost joyously happy chorus, is proof that this New Zealand collective can sit in a positive light just as much as they can in the shadows.
This is the same with For You, quite possibly a summer anthem in waiting. With guitars and keyboard combining with sublime bass, it's a wonderfully infectious track that demands to be played at top volume while driving a convertible on a bright summer's day.
With radio stations beginning to wake up to the delights Recliner have to offer, and the sheer depth in song writing and musicianship skills they possess, it's a fairly safe bet that New Zealand may have just found itself another band to join Crowded House in the Hall of Fame.
