The debut album One Of A Kind from the UK-based rock outfit The Heavy Heavy is a blast of retro rocking fun. The band combines its love of 60s pop with 70s arena rock.
Multi-instrumentalist William Turner and vocalist Georgie Fuller co-wrote the record, while Turner produced, engineered, and mixed One Of A Kind. Turner’s throwback, mainstream rock writing, and recording style give the songs a dusty feel, as he primarily recorded in his Brighton studio.
The Heavy Heavy’s sweet spots are huge arena-ready blasts of confident rock and the AM-friendly summer of love saccharine treats. On the meaty riff side of things, the opening title track is a winner with slapping drums, bubbling bass, and huge crescendos. Both the swaggering strut of “Lemonade” and the building keys of the slow grooving, right up until the explosion of “Cherry,” will have rafters rocking in T Rex-like fashion.
The throwback direct pop is best experienced via the sunshine-filled first single, “Happiness,” which has flashes of Creedence Clearwater Revival. “Miracle Sun uses a big, echoing feel, while “Dirt” has a Deep Purple-inspired organ, hand claps, and excellent vocals from Fuller.
When the band gets stuck in between, or tries to combine these styles, like on the two longest tracks here, the twangy “Wild Emotion” and the overly dramatic “Salina”, things don’t flow as smoothly. Also lyrical themes of the weather, loneliness/happiness show up often without saying anything unique, but both issues are small for a band just starting out.
A stout first full length from The Heavy Heavy, whose fuzzy retro rock, mixed with So Cal pop charm, results in a winning combination on One Of A Kind.
