Washington, DC-based band Broke Royals consumes across their new album Campr, spanning enjoyable realms of rousingly anthemic rock, string-touched balladry, and emotively swelling structural intrigue. A cohesive, collaborative unit that excels with shared vocal roles and alternating leads, Broke Royals strut a powerful and immediate sound across Campr.
The band’s ability to navigate from breezy approachability to rock fervency is apparent right away. The album’s opening track “Better Off” weaves bursting guitar twangs, wordless vocal soaring, and sturdy percussive pitter-patter to start, achieving a lushly absorbing charm as introspective vocals emerge. “I choose my words carefully,” they let out, thematically representing the power of choosing restraint in a world rife with noise, opposition, and tumult. The ability to choose one’s words carefully, while still making a difference through actions and conversation, is not to be forgotten — and the track declares so with artful urgency. Its title-bearing hook also excites, commanding a harder-rocking ardor as the uplifted vocal work attains a stirring tonal resemblance to Thom Yorke.
Campr doesn’t let up in its quality, magnetic songwriting from there. The album’s title track arrives next, melding punchy rhythms and twinkling synths as feverish guitar pulses come into the fold. An anthemic vigor shows in the vocal performance as the trickling instrumentation persists with doses of electrified guitars. A hopeful sound resonates alongside lyrical themes of loss and renewal, reminding “I’ll love you till the end” as the flourishing chorus eases in again. Achieving a similarly effervescent, hooky quality, “Carriage” delights in its bright guitar jangling and bass-bouncing verses. The shimmering “every line you wanted me to say” section induces replays in its alt-pop allure, while the “don’t wait for me” beckoning also showcases the act’s dreamier atmospheric inclinations.
Previously featured gem “The Weather” is also amongst the album’s standouts. It’s also an excellent example of their ability to craft stylish productions across various vocalists, here featuring the vocals of Rebecca Basnight, whose serenely captivating delivery fits fantastically within a sound fusing ’80s-style synths and pop guitars with seamless cohesion. While tracks like “The Weather” and “Better Off” pop with colorful immediacy, Broke Royals also succeed with more patiently unfolding beauties like “Looking For,” strutting a debonair rock entrancement with ghostly, soulful vocal chilliness. Concluding the album with satiating, slow-burning impact, “Waited So Long” enthralls with a melancholic vocal immersion — conveying a palpable yearning — amidst hypnotic, swaying guitar psychedelics and caressing string-touched outro. Abundant in melodic, emotionally powerful songwriting, Campr is a riveting success of an album from Broke Royals.
Campr releases on February 6th.
