Stardumb Records/Dirty Water Records/Surfin' Ki Records, July 3, 2020
Lucy and the Rats do lots of variations on power pop goodness.
Lucy and the Rats comes from London via Melbourne, beginning a few years back when former Spazzys bassist Lucy Ellis moved to the UK and met up with the guys from Johnny Throttle. Combining some real buzzsaw guitars with some surfy bits and lots of power pop goodness, they have since released a slew of singles and EP's and a full length. Got Lucky is their newest effort and their sophomore full length, falling in alongside great 80's punk-influenced power pop like Holly and the Italians and Nikki & the Corvettes and 60's girl-group goodness like The Ronettes and The Shangri-Las.
Got Lucky buzzes with a lot of punk energy, lacing some songs with guitars and rhythms that could've been played by Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy. Songs like “Pinch Myself” jump out of the speakers with a palpable energy, lending some simple clean guitars to a driving and pressing drum beat. Throw in some chants, and it's about as close as Got Lucky gets to Ramones territory. “Sorry” does a similar deal with some compelling melodies and a little bit of organ, coming out the other end sounding like End Of The Century-era Ramones. On these songs, Lucy's ties to Spazzys becomes clear.
But Lucy and the Rats do a little more than just buzz and bang. On Got Lucky, they also hone their songcraft with a melding of styles that bring out the melodies and sink their claws in deep. Surfy power pop songs bring hooks for days, combining sounds from the 60's and sounds from the 80's and crossing up genres to simply make cool pop songs. Songs like “Time to Time” and “September” get all sorts of gorgeous. On “Time”, the band plays it straight during the verses before bringing on some great vocal harmonies and sublime guitar work. “September” sparkles with surfy guitars and rolling drums made for a Dick Dale song while Lucy's voice sounds exquisite. The melody is an earworm and the harmonies on the chorus are out of this world.
You can also hear the ghost of Phil Spector on songs like “Real Thing” and “Get Down”, each offering unique Spectorisms. “Real Thing” plays with surf melodies and more gorgeous vocal melodies and harmonies while 50's-sounding tremolo guitars glisten. It seems like a missing song from one of those teenage surf/beach movies from the Frankie and Annette years. “Get Down” opens like “Leader of the Pack” or “Be My Baby” and comes out a girl-group power pop song. Both are terrific.
Even when they completely slow stuff down, they pull it off. “TV” is a slow, gentle burn about relationship issues and “On Fire” is positively lovely, with tremolo-soaked guitar that sounds like it's being played by Marty McFly at a 1955 school dance (you know the part, before Marty goes all rock and roll – I think the song is “Earth Angel”). And “Lucky” opens like a pristine country song, working in some clean reverbed guitars and some stunningly beautiful harmonies and backing vocals. And again, like the other stuff on the record, they pull these songs off wonderfully.
Lucy and the Rats do a good thing on Got Lucky, loading it front to back with songs that feel simultaneously crafted and spontaneous. If you want some stuff that'll stick in your brain, look no further.
You might like this if:
- You like 80's-indebted power pop, Phil Spector girl groups and lots of hooks
You might not if:
- You spend all your time in hardcore clubs getting bloodied up
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He's very secretive, he might be an alien.