Reardon Love - Locked in The Panopticon (Single Review)
Reardon Love's new single Locked in The Panopticon is a thriving blend of new wave, Britpop, and a hint of funk. It furthermore displays pop awareness, glossy production and a very brief critique of the surveillance state in 2 minutes and 10 seconds
Reardon Love are somewhat an outlier on Hull's music scene. A unique blend of new wave, Britpop, and a dash of funk packed full of left-wing politics (and unapologetically so). They stand by the sidelines of the Hull's crowd of indie and punk and attempt to deliver something a bit more slick, crisp and neon pink - and have brought themselves bundles of attention doing so, in part to frontman Matt Fletcher's understanding and use of a clear image and smart/concise marketing. So, does Reardon Love live up to any of the underground hype they have created for themselves?
The answer is a complicated one. First of all, the production on their new single "Locked in The Panopticon" is much glossier than that of the majority of their peers - although aforementioned, they remain at a clean arm's length from their peers in terms of sound. Dan Wilby's bass is equally seductive and deliciously thick and Lewis Tillison's percussion bring a creative groove to the table and proves his talent in creating fun and springy drum parts. Moreover, Josh Chesman's floaty and spacial synth part fills out the sonic spectrum with great effect, following both the drums and basslines, although some strong rhythm guitar would weight this down wonderfully. Unfortunately, the synthesizer overstays its welcome in the first verse when it engulfs Matts vocals and the mix becomes way to busy. It is either too loud, shouldn't be there, or should be altered to add flavour in between - but not on top of [Matt's] - vocal parts. Whatever it is, it's an error of judgment. By the time the chorus shows its face, this problem is fixed and the mix mellows out enough for all the parts to shine.
Now, we move onto Matt's lyricism. I admit that Matt has a command of his vocabulary. One listen will make it clear he certainly does. The contention I have towards the lyrics he presents here is not the words themselves, but their lack of commitment and content. Matt presents us with a conversation between a protagonist and an unnamed person. It follows as the protagonist concludes that the unnamed person "believes in the coincidental" and the protagonist believes in the "existential", "fact and fiction/politicians with no jurisdiction". The general interpretation I garnered from this project is that it is meant to be a critique of a surveillance state, especially with the statement "we're locked and watched in the panopticon" - which is the most pertinent lyric of the song. As I said, Matt has a command of his vocabulary, but in my personal opinion, the track relies on this too much. Moreover, without having enough commitment to one of these three things:
- A rigorous or more specific critique of the surveillance state
- Strong storytelling of life in the metaphorical 'Panopticon'
- An impassioned objection to the surveillance state.
Unfortunately, without this commitment, I struggle to get invested in the politically drenched lyrics and it pulls me away from the project slightly, and thus, the result is a reduction into simply enjoying the song's sonic quality rather than lyrical content. Maybe it's because Matt and company limited themselves to an incredibly brief two minutes in which to explore this topic. If Matt is wanting to really solidify himself as a potent songwriter, I recommend he develops these skills. He's got the potential, he just needs to hone them.
Overall, Reardon Love's new single Locked in The Panopticon is a solid and thriving blend of new wave, Britpop, and a hint of funk. It furthermore displays pop awareness and nostalgia without being too derivative. Although not as confident as Sweet Brandon Teena (Respond to Me), I am pleasantly surprised by the output and I hope that the chaos of the world inspires Matt to hone his ability as a politically aware songwriter and really bring his A-game in future releases.
3/5
Listen to them on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/7igJmjBbojmbXyfiU3UDnJ
Check them out on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/reardonlove/
- Written by Joshua Ingham.