Love Party – WOW! (13th Floor Album Review)
Love Party, are Poneke tāngata Kate Yesberg, Dayle Jellyman and Cory Champion, together, compositely, they have plethora of musical experience, including playing in teenage punk bands, whilst concurrently other acts including; Battle Ska Galactica, Clear Path Ensemble, Fvkvshima, and Floating Head jazz ensemble.
I wonder why the biography that accompanied the music, WOW! Needed to tell me that Yesberg and DJellyman had been married for ten years before they started Love Party. They state a healthy irreverence towards the status quo, yet all the song’s lyrics infer narratives about being love fools, and (mediocre) life experience. It seems to me that they are quite comfortable, there is nothing remiss about that, but really!
WOW! Has a sound, Love Party have a schtick. Think the energy of 70’s punk, and the attitude of 80’s new wave pop. The band totters somewhere between the plastic punk-pop of the US New Wave bands of the 1980’s, and the alt-punk sound of UK groups like Franz Ferdinhand of the 2000’s.
WOW! comprises eight songs, including previously released singles Hit It, Moonbaby and I Don’t Wanna Leave. The singles were carefully released to create hype, clever! Yet there is a paucity of gig references online for Love Party. WOW! Was created in a flat and in a studio, yet I wonder how much was refined and tested in dodgy dark dives? WOW! Smacks of derivatives, it’s spectacularly well recorded, and the energy and pace are punchy. At 24 minutes it’s not really an album, but its brevity means there is no filler. BONUS!
WOW! Is a perfect product for the online generation, inoffensive, a long lead in of singles, catchy video clips, and gulp-a-bull bite sized songs. But, can they pull it off live is my one catechize.
Simon Coffey
WOW! is available now on all streaming platforms. See Love Party live at their debut show at the Lōemis Midwinter Festival on 21 June in Wellington – tickets available HERE.
Click here to watch the 13th Floor Musictalk Interview with Love Party
