Packing crunching riffs and twisting melodies, alt rockers Leopard Rays have shared their debut EP ‘Times A Factor, Kid’.
The Hartlepool quartet have spent months building up to this emphatic release and it’s certainly been worth the wait. Layering dreamy guitars, lush reverb-drenched vocals and a pop mentality, Leopard Rays have a penchant for where the mood takes them.
‘Times A Factor, Kid’ kicks off with previous single ‘Brother’ armed with rock riffs and a rebellious attitude, the track opens with bass motif and oddly goth-inflected Brit-rock shimmer and simmering. Transcending into a rollicking ode to non-conformity like Foo Fighters and Oasis at their earliest snarling, punk rock best; heavy as all hell but beautifully melodic.
Mining for the tail-end of grunge for melodic recourse, ‘Daydream’ is an anthem of these times, a year or more lost to daydreams and nightmares. Crashing cymbals matched with electrifying guitar work are couplet to ‘Pass You By.’ Vocally focused, the penultimate track on the EP is a youthful call to tune-in and drop-out. More a wry knowing one can only have from living through 2020 as the world around them paradoxically ground to a virtual halt but ultimately celebratory as they get ready to burst out of the other end.
Finally, the title track ‘Times A Factor, Kid’ is altogether more introspective and shows a completely different side to a band. Still growing musically, they have experimented with a much slower BPM before a classic crunching riff comes in, as if they had forgotten themselves for a few moments, while some operatic change of tempos and a premature ending hint at ambitions way beyond.
Leopard Rays have undoubtedly taken their sound to the next level. The alt rock quartet look set to round this miserable year off on a great high.
