Of all the great things said about the music-sharing system Spotify, the ability to discover new music is certainly among the top three descriptions of the program. However, sometimes this new music is by totally obscure bands based out of other countries that appear to have made little effort at an internet presence. Such is the case with Boy which, from what I can tell, is an indie rock group based out of the UK. I was still thoroughly impressed by the band’s most recent EP, Eyes Wide, despite it taking me a while to find any kind of information on them (I wonder if they realize how hard it is to simply Google “boy” or “boy band” or even “boy band uk eyes wide” and expect accurate results).
The band’s last album, I Know You’re Not Asleep, was a much chiller album, with smooth, muted vocals and soft synth influences. Eyes Wide, however, departs from that in a way that gives one the impression that the band has changed fairly radically over the 7 years between the two albums. The EP’s first track, the title track, is full of driving electric guitar and vocals that range from soulfully loud to quietly emotive. This makes “Eyes Wide” as a track incredibly indicative of the sound of the rest of the EP. “Tip of My Tongue” and “To the Sea”, the EP’s third and fourth tracks definitely exhibit this sound in their excited instrumental work that fits ever so nicely with the vocalist’s passionate singing. Lyrics like “Let the waves crash into my boat, let the waves crash over me!” from “To the Sea” demand a forcefully emotional deliverance and the lead singer of Boy is easily able to meet such requirements.
Such passionate lyrics like that are also present in “Tip of My Tongue” and it makes the song oh so much fun to sing along to. Ever since listening to that song, I’ve perpetually had stuck in my head “Would you like to be the one on the tip of my, tip of my, tip of my-eee tongue?!” Simple yet driving chords and beats hit at great times during each line of lyrics and pull all of the fantastic elements of the song together to make it my favorite song on the EP. Even saying that I have a favorite song from Eyes Wide feels inaccurate considering the whole EP is really fantastic and doesn’t deserve to have favorites chosen from it. While I barely know anything about Boy, I still really love the music they left us with. Eyes Wide came out in February of 2011, a full 2 years ago, and I think it’s high time Boy got to releasing some new music. Even the last video on the band’s YouTube page was uploaded a year ago. What this means is that you’ll have to scour the internet or Spotify to listen to Boy’s music or you can purchase the EP on iTunes.
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