Twenty years of friendship resulting in a colourful debut album? That’s exactly how it went for Royal Pantone with Colors. And it’s today’s review.
COLORS – ROYAL PANTONE
For their first album, duet Royal Pantone is going further than the metaphor with Colors. The tones are set, and the record gets rich in its layers, influences, and other musical gradients. They chose to set the base on Blue, an electrical and sexy intro with electronica accents. A modern rock. The guitars are rough, the vocals clear, and overall, it’s a catchy groove. To compliment the blue, they turn to the warm Orange. Here, it’s a sunset, where the deep bass spreads on the canvas. Now, I want to continue with the colours we have on the blog, so I jump directly to White. With its piano, it’s the most solemn track, refined and pure, of course, it’s essential to the record. The vocals are especially impressive, as they’re so just and grand.
Going back to the correct order of the palette they decided on, the orange fades into Pink. Here, Royal Pantone asks the world to slow down, take our time, and enjoy. And they’re doing so with a jazzy spirit and some clever production effects. Genres continue to melt and merge into each other, stopping in time to stay distinct enough. Black, another base, is the ultimate mix, here ironically vivid, but also grave and eclectic. Gospel, reggae, French Touch, blues… they pick up small amounts of different pigments to create this specific black.
We can also find some gospel in Purple, disturbing at first, but soon celebratory. Note that here, both band member’s vocals are joining forces with the same intensity. On Yellow, blues will take over the guitar when the vocals turn to pop. Lastly, Khaki encapsulates an autumnal evening with a surprising and efficient rap, and Mint goes back to pop-rock on a scratchy production, making it all pretty fresh. Tina Tictone’s and David Konopnicki’s influences are diverse and can be found outside the music world. Their friendship brings David’s New York underground rock resonates and reveals the lines of a monumental painting street artist Tina has drawn on the other side of the world. Colors is only the beginning for Royal Pantone. But what a beginning, indeed!
