Harmony pop is a difficult art to master, but in Xylaroo we have an act who have seemingly leapt to the top of this difficult to ascend tree in a single bound. Fronted by sisters Holly and Coco Chant, Xylaroo have already toured widely and paid no small amount of dues, so perhaps it is no surprise that their debut album sounds so accomplished.
Sweetooth starts with the infectious “Track a’ Lackin'”, a song with a rhythm track which relishes in a very old school acoustic rock and roll clatter. It’s a solid base for the Chant sisters striking harmony vocals to bounce against, and the song as a whole effectively sets the mood for the rest of the album. Sweetooth tonally shifts from song to song, switching from sinister, to world weary, to self assured, to straight up positivity, without missing a beat. This is impressive stuff, especially when you consider that the eldest of the Chant sisters is 25 years old.
While the whole of Sweetooth makes a case for it being one of the finest debut albums of 2016, there are certain songs that have already established themselves as personal favourites of mine. “Sunshine” is a toe-tapping reminder that despite life not always running smooth, as long as you remain positive, things can turn around if you put in the effort and accept the bad times with the good. The string assisted moodiness of “River of Love” is also particularly effective, especially when a pair of taught electric guitars join in to increase the sense of urgency. Perhaps my favourite though is “Narwhal”, and not just because I have an affection for the unicorns of the sea. It’s a cracking little tune, and tone wise at least, it’s one of Sweetooth’s lighter moments, or at least that’s how it starts, as there’s a slowly revealed realisation that there’s a subtle, yet unmistakable subtle sense of rising panic.
Sweetooth is a release that assimilates rock and roll, folk, blues, indie, pop into an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of sound, twisting and turning, without ever sounding unfocused, to the point where you genuinely have to keep reminding yourself that this is Xyalroo’s debut album. It can be dark, light, folk, bluesy, rocky, yet never loses the feeling that it’s a fantasticly accessible album that makes even the hardest hearted music cynic to go a bit wobbly.
