Ask any previous attendees about the “magic” of the Great Escape, and you can bet that 90% will immediately bring up the discovery of countless new bands that weren’t even on their radar when going into the week of the festival. This year, when it comes to new discoveries, then Australian sextet Money For Rope are set to be up there with the best. Offering a towering surf-soul hybrid and a sound that screams at you to get up and dance, the six-piece will be right at home in Brighton this May.
‘Nova Pilota’ is how the sextet make their arrival, and the Melbourne outfit’s latest release is exactly the kind of track to get bodies swaying in a live setting. It’s about half way through that vocalist Jules McKenzie comes out of his shell and gives a bit more of a kick to the piece. There’s a bit of time for McKenzie’s and his co-conspirators to fire up instrumentally to close out the track, making a solid first impression and simultaneously setting up confidently for whatever 2014 has in store in terms of studio work. Jumping back a couple of years you hit ‘Slow Dance’. The band’s debut single did see the band grabbing attention from hometown labels and much of this can be put down to the track’s chorus, a pounding step up in pace that definitely doesn’t sound anything like Foghat’s ‘Slow Ride’. One comparison that can be made however is the Cult-like sound to McKenzie’s voice that seems to have faded in more recent efforts. It’s a nod to the ability of the Money for Rope frontman that strong parallels can be drawn to Astbury’s performance on tracks like ‘She Sells Sanctuary’, but as the Melbourne sextet have grown into life as a band, McKenzie has definitely settled into his own style away from any clear cut comparisons.
‘Misery Lane’ is an irresistable toe-tapper, with guitars taking something of a backseat as Rick Parnaby (keys) steps into the spotlight. Dual drummers Christopher Valdemarin and Nigel Moyes also have a hand in the track’s belting strength. Instrumentally powerful and lyrically adventurous turns out to be a winning combination on one of Money for Rope’s best tracks to date. ‘Ten Times’, meanwhile, is a snapshot compared to their other efforts, but the two minutes you spend listening to it are likely to be two of the best minutes of your day. This would, of course, be closely followed by the two minutes you spend listening to it again.
Money For Rope are unlikey to be the only Oceanic representation at a hugely multi-national event in Brighton this May, but if pressed to pick one non-British act to keep here after the festival is done for another year, the Melbourne act are definitely an early standout. The sextet can rip into a song and leave you reeling, and live this tendency is only set to increase. It’s hard to see the six-piece having any difficulty in winning over new fans as they help to kick off the UK’s festival season in style.
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