Reardon Love is a four piece band from Hull in the UK, with “Sweet Brandon Teena” being their debut single. The band consists of Matt Fletcher on Guitar / Vocals, Dan Wilby on Bass Guitar, Jed Pearson on Drums and Josh Chesman on Synth and Guitar.
The band was formed only in the latter part of last year but already they are being talked about on the independent circuit – they have had some notable gigs already as a support act to bands such as Hinds, Republica and Red Faces.
The title of the single “Sweet Brandon Teena” suggests that Reardon Love will attack some of the more serious issues through their music. For those who aren’t aware, Brandon Teena was an American transgender man who was raped and murdered in Nebraska - his life was actually the subject matter for the film “Boys Don’t Cry”. A visit to their Facebook page also highlights that the band want to ‘raise awareness about discrimination in a time of powerful social justice’, so I think we can expect Reardon Love to be releasing more tracks on serious issues in today’s society. They very much see themselves with a role to ‘champion the underdog, hail the outsider and liberate the falsely accused’.
Musically their sound is something I would describe as complex, they are cutting across different genres and decades. There is definitely something of the New Wave generation from the early 1980s – there is at least a small nod to The Cure with the guitar sound throughout “Sweet Brandon Teena”. There are also undertones of the more modern Brit Pop era from the 90s but Reardon Love also manage to sound very current which is a balance very hard to achieve. It is something to be admired and something I definitely want to hear more of.
The track itself isn’t one that everyone will immediately like, it took me several plays before I really got under the skin and realised what these guys have managed to produce. I think lyrically this works more once you understand the subject matter of Brandon Teena and I guess for mainstream success it is unlikely that many people will research this before they listen. Having said all of that, “Sweet Brandon Teena” is one of the best debut singles I have heard in the last few years and if this is the standard they will be producing moving forward then I can definitely see them making a name for themselves in this industry. For anyone who doesn’t get this on first play, I urge you to stick with it as the journey is most definitely worth it.
Swet Brandon Teena Youtube link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLFSrIvF-I4
Reviewer - John Fish
on - 7/5/19
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