Everyone in Auckland has been incredibly frustrated with the lockdown which has now stretched past 100 days, impacting everyone inside the borders. Obviously one group which have been unable to work are the gigging musicians, which has seen some of them go into the studio or even start new projects. Here we have a case in point, as over the last few years Adrian Drew has been the driving force with {Investigator} who recently got into the NZ charts with the single Lake of Eyes. He felt inspired to look back at some of his older material, wondering what he could do with it, and the result is a new outfit, {A Radical Sun}, which is actually just Adrian, along with Paul Robinson who provides the underlying beat.
This is a song and performance which belongs solidly in the early/mid 80’s, with a style which reminded me of a combination of ABC, Simple Minds, Spandau Ballet and New Romantics, all wrapped in an indie electronic ribbon. Adrian describes this as an earworm, and he is right – it is one of those songs that after a few short plays has embedded itself in the brain. This is incredibly frustrating for a metalhead such as myself as the last thing I want to find myself singing is a song like this, but there again Adrian is a strong songwriter, and it is not the first time some of his material has impacted me like this. I just did not expect it from music which could have come out nearly 40 years ago as I wasn’t a fan of it first time around at all!
It is upbeat, with clever guitar melodies which play around on top of the basic chords, all driven by the beat, in an alt-pop manner which could well find Adrian back in the charts again as there are some quirky elements which really make this stand out.
Rating: 7/10
