By: Scott Martin
What do you get when you cross a goofy, sarcastic sense of humour, with impressive musicianship and songs so catchy that audiences know every word before they’re even released? You get Out by Lucy.
An indie rock band from Ottawa, Out by Lucy first found their footing playing Ottawa University’s “Queer Connections” event.
With an extremely successful debut single titled Prestone & Coca-Cola, which currently sits around 9.7 thousand streams, the band’s first EP was a highly anticipated project, to say the least.
On Friday the 13th of October, the wait was over and Out by Lucy released their debut project Different Zoo, Same Old Monkey. The EP is a 5 track powder keg of incredibly catchy songwriting and impressive musicianship.
The opening track Fukuyama immediately provides what so many have come to expect and love from Out by Lucy; infectious guitars, charming vocals and tasteful drums. Between the lyrics about Francis Fukuyama from singer Harrison Mees and the shredding guitar solos from lead guitarist Sam Moreland, Fukuyama grabs the listener by the collar and takes them for a ride that you can’t help but fall in love with.
The listener is gently lulled into a false sense of tranquillity as track two, Don’t You Look begins. Fans of the band who have been to a few live shows will quickly recognize that the slow electronic ballad that they’re hearing, is the same explosive indie rock banger that they have heard live, however much more reserved. The choice to swap speed and energy for psychedelic guitars, hypnotic bass and lush synth sections was unexpected, yet masterfully done. Two standout features of this track are the use of household noises such as phones ringing as well as the trance-like bassline from Gabriel Comba.
Our halfway checkpoint is reached with the track GALAXION. The tune begins with
Sam Moreland delivers a soaring guitar riff that instantly grabs hold of the listener, while drummer Julian Moreland locks the band into a groove that demands to be danced to. While this track is certainly a display of the instrumental talent within the group, it also showcases some of Harrison’s best vocal performances on the entire project.
Track four, Le Ronson, serves as a short 50-second interlude about the narrator and their dad going to the refrigerator store and having a small crisis about surviving a nautical disaster on the drive to the store. The track is cute, funny and an effective palette cleanser before reaching the final tune.
Our final track on the project is called Snorkelling Song. As any song about water sports should, the track opens with the sounds of waves before the beachy surf rock song kicks in. The chorus of the track ponders the simplicity and elegance of snorkelling and the research that they have done on the subject. Following this trend of lyrics that might get a laugh or two, is the line “Stoned to the bone, flipflops on my feet, man I’d kill for SOME TIM HORTONS”, before reaching our final chorus.
After first hearing this project, the biggest takeaway was just how fresh and full of personality each song is. There is a clear voice for each track found on this project, and it helps Different Zoo, Same Old Monkey avoid being just another 5 songs thrown together, and instead become a well-planned and beautifully performed EP.
Out by Lucy has clearly taken the phrase “Put your best foot forward” to heart and has done exactly that with this debut EP. This is a band you do NOT want to miss out on live.