Sunshine Brothers, The - Red Alert (Album)
» Rastawookie (Album Launch) - Metro Theatre, The, NSW - April 21, 2007
From the first listen of the opening instrumental track, The Sunshine Brothers’ new album slows your world down.
With a trumpet setting a calm, funked, reggae pace, you’re overcome by a chilled-out weekend feeling that’s near impossible to fight.
But despite the overwhelmingly relaxed vibe, Red Alert offers enough energy to stop you dozing off.
The third album from the self-described reggae/soul/dub five-piece, boasts doses of electronic keyboard and guitar harmonies, enabling them to appeal to a wide audience.
Vocals emerge in the second track, and given the album was recorded near Madrid, it’s no surprise to hear they lyrics are in Spanish.
Despite this, the album’s beach-themed vibe is clearly understood in any language, and there are plenty of la la la’s thrown into the mix to get those non-Spanish-speaking fans singing along.
The longer you listen to this album, the harder it becomes to define the genre of this Perth-based band.
The fourth track on the album, What You Do, sounds like The Cat Empire and Fat Freddy’s Drop on a date in Disneyland. The track opens with an upbeat tune that sounds like something out of a Disney movie and emerges into a trumpet-based track with lyrics like ‘Hey baby, where you been gone?’ and ‘I don’t mind what you do. As long as your love stays true’.
This is followed however by the title instrumental track Red Alert, which starts on a much lower,more jazz-infused note. Again the track is mostly trumpet-based, but with a hefty dose of electric guitar and keyboards thrown in.
This is not the sort of album you would put on your iPod and listen to repeatedly. But it’s certainly an album you’d want playing in the background at a relaxed, weekend barbecue.
