Royel Otis

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Two Australian guys, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic, drew on their own first names to come up with a distinctive, recognizable moniker. Over the course of three years they released a hefty run of singles, leading up to three EPs issued with strict annual regularity: “Campus” (2021), “Bar & Grill” (2022) and “Sofa Kings” (2023). “Oysters In My Pocket”, from the second of these, quickly became their calling card, as did their well-received recent cover of “Murder On The Dancefloor”. Four further new songs, doled out sparingly over recent weeks, have only heightened anticipation for the band's first proper album, “Pratts & Pain”, named after a London pub they used to frequent, where they'd often jot down the odd line or two to slip into their songs. “Pratts & Pain” bears out all the stylistic touchstones scattered across their earlier work: it's not too hard to spot the reverence for the Cure (right from the opener, “Adored”), the interlocking guitars typical of the Strokes (listen closely to “Fried Rice”), and certain elements that defined the sound of the Velvet Underground, duly honored in (of all things) “Velvet”, two minutes that revisit the theme of “Waiting For The Man”, and in the enveloping spirals of “Molly”, which toward the end bears a close resemblance to “Venus In Furs”. But across the fifteen tracks of “Pratts & Pain” you'll also find the soft elegance of yacht-rock on “Foam” (very close to Phoenix) and “Sofa King” (already released on last year's EP), clear nostalgia for the textures of Sonic Youth (“Daisy Chain”) – already openly flagged via a “Dirty” t-shirt worn for a promo photo – obvious influences from the Clash (or the Libertines, take your pick) in “Big Ciggie”, an unwitting (?) closeness to the less brooding side of Okkervil River (“Merry Mary Marry Me”), and more than a few very Smiths-like jangly guitars popping up here and there. Reworking all these inherited building blocks, the duo craft their own personal synthesis of heavily guitar-driven indie-rock, blessed by the production hand of Dan Carey, whom they tracked down after moving from Sydney to South London.

Having just wrapped up a completely sold-out tour of Australia, their schedule through the end of 2024 is jam-packed: besides touring extensively across the United States and Canada, Royel Otis will tackle two lengthy European legs, one in summer, the other in autumn, which will include three Italian dates: Genoa in July (Mojotic Festival), Castelbuono in August (Ypsigrock) and Milan (at Santeria) in November. In between there will be major appearances at numerous high-profile festivals, including Primavera Sound (both the Barcelona and Porto editions), the Dutch festival Best Kept Secret, Finland's Sideways, and France's Midi.

In August 2025 comes the second album, “Hickey”, preceded by three singles that stylistically differ little from what's come before – a trait that proves both the greatest strength and the main limitation of a record that's certainly enjoyable and well-crafted, but fails to push the band's stock any higher. As with “Pratts & Pain”, the musical reference points on “Hickey” are once again plain to see: from the Cure-style little guitar lines evoked on opener “I Hate This Tune”, to the wistful lightness very reminiscent of (fellow Australians) Parcels on “Good Times”, from the Tame Impala profile (more Australians – there's clearly a shared source here: must be the beach) of “Come On Home” to the big Eighties keyboards that open “Who’s Your Boyfriend”. And then there are the three singles, “Moody”, “Car” and “Say Something”, perfectly suited to sending whole crowds into the air next summer at the festival stages they're sure to play, the setting where their songs work best. Across the thirteen tracks of “Hickey”, you dance while sinking into nostalgia, lock eyes with someone, embrace tenderly, lulled by a sound perfectly suited to soundtracking an unforgettable orange sunset. Royel Otis is an indie-pop-rock project with broad, crowd-pleasing appeal, capable of genuinely winning over just about anyone, and that could well be the key to lasting, large-scale success. But since “Hickey” doesn't contain any potentially unforgettable hits, the risk is that at their shows the most anticipated moments (besides “Oysters In My Pocket”, still their most-streamed song) will keep being the two spot-on covers the duo usually trot out: “Murder On The Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and “Linger” by the Cranberries.