This song has it all, as soon as you are out of the blocks, you are immediately enticed into a sort of body movement only reserved for those moments that you are sure no one is watching. The pumping bass and funky guitar licks really do set the mood straight away to what you are about to experience. The one thing that really struck me was how this innovative band was able to use the word antihistamine like it was a word you just use in everyday conversation whilst waiting at the bus stop, try saying that 10 times quickly with your yellow ducks.
One of my true assessments of a good song is whether I could listen to this song in different scenarios and it still have the same impact upon my soul. Whether it is walking along the beach, standing on top of a mountain, or standing in the rain with my thumb out. I can honestly say hearing the sensual relaxing lead vocals would certainly make my hitchhiking escapades much more bearable in the middle of an Auckland downpour.
Everything about this song is free flowing and such an easy listen, 5 minutes' worth of your time out of your day to experience a beautiful number. This band obviously knows what they are doing and are highly talented in all departments. I highly recommend supporting their endeavours especially if you want to hear something slightly off beat, I know I will be waiting in line to squeeze into a Christchurch venue if they ever decide to come down to the South Island for a tiki tour.
A solid 3 ½ stars out of 5 from me, if this is their first offering, I am excited to hear their second offering whenever that maybe. Bravo and well done Revulva.
Like TLC, Revulva is CrazySexyCool, but they’re also puzzled by driver behaviour, mad at landlords, cheeky jokers, unashamedly feminist, and all too well aware that sometimes CrazySexyCool ends in CrazySexyAwkward.
Described by Rolling Stone Australia as “strangely alluring,” the femme-fronted eight-piece formed in Wellington under the de facto leadership of the composer, lyricist, bassist and vocalist Phoebe Johnson in 2019. Since then, Johnson and her clown van full of hyper-busy musical collaborators, Lily Rose Shaw, Toby Leman, Hector McLachlan, Kaito Walley, Lennox Grootjans, Mysty Cooke, and Zane Hawkins, have won over bar, nightclub and festival audiences across New Zealand.
Taking cues from Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Jamiroquai, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Minnie Ripperton and Prince, Revulva reimagines the anything-goes energy of New York City’s 1970's downtown scene and London’s 1990's funk and soul renaissance through an antipodean lens informed by the deadpan humour and the realities of 21st-century life in New Zealand. The result is a hedonistic whirlwind of acid jazz, avant-funk, disco, AOR and art-pop, where polished playing leaves room for improvisation in the heat of the moment, and real statements come bundled up with just enough laughs to soften the snarl.