Listening to Fond Of Rudy, you can’t help but instantly be made aware of their similarities with another band that some of you may have heard of… The 1975, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
‘Say Something’ has all the baseline components of a contemporary hit released by acts their ilk. You have the mind-numbingly catchy chorus, the simplistic and repetitive structure and of course an incredibly bright and happy reverberated guitar solo. The sense of melody in this song is truly commendable and it’s clear that Fond Of Rudy have taken some very handy notes from what’s been in the charts the past few years from their notable pop songwriting chops.
One key issue however is that while everything seems to be in the right place and the vocal melody is very strong throughout, ‘Say Something’ feels like a diluted, less textured and a less sincere version of inspirations like The 1975. The lead guitar part playing over the songs climax does well to remedy this, but it can’t help but make you feel that an progression of this nature would have been well placed earlier in the song as well, as the instrumentation feels bare for much of the track. Despite this, you have to give the Brighton four piece credit, as they are still very much a new band and are still crafting their own sound and sense of direction.
You can hear their potential as a commercially credible and desirable band even just from this one song, as their talent as musicians and songwriters are blatantly apparent. ‘Say Something’ could be in the same league as their influences with some very minor, yet significant tweaks and I for one am confident that it’ll only be a matter of time before they get there.
You can check out their latest single ‘OMG!‘, let us know in the comments what you think.
