Northern born, but London based artist, Buzzkill Joy has just released his debut single, Birthday Cake, and we’ve been taking a listen here at the Send Me Your Ears Studio today.
If you’re looking for a super fun, commercial sounding britpop/ska/punk sounding fresh new track, then seriously…look no further than Birthday Cake.
Birthday Cake is a burst of 3 minutes of perfectly composed ska/pop heaven. We absolutely love it.
With numerous different sections this song easily maintained our interest for several listens. The super-catchy chorus is a real singalong and we feel this track has some major commercial appeal. The fact that it’s a debut astounded us, but more than that, the vocalist mentions in his biography that recording this was one of the first times he’d sung in front of anyone. Do it more, dude. Do it more!
We love the slightly cockney feel to the accent in the vocals in places, whilst also very much maintaining a Northern England, Lightning Seeds feel to the track. Have to say… there were definite moments of No Doubt’s ska era and early albums too here. All it needed was a horn section!
The vocals are clear and up front with easily discernible lyrics that just ooze fun and enjoyment. The electric guitar solo was well placed with well chosen notes and tone.
We love the silly ending! It made us giggle and will no doubt make us giggle several more times today. There’s nothing better than a new artist who clearly takes his music seriously, whilst also not taking himself too seriously. Positively charming.
From a production perspective, we’d suggest a small boost around 150Hz in the master to add a little more punch and warmth in the low end. A wide sweeping cut across the middle, centred around 700Hz plus an additional cut around 1100Hz will alleviate just a touch of honkiness in the track (probably picked up during the recording process). A wide boost of the top, centred around 6kHz will give some further balance and add more clarity, definition and presence to the track.
To our ears, Birthday Cake is just a little too heavily compressed, but perhaps that is because the song has a slightly retro feel that simply wouldn’t have this level of compression on it.
Buzzkill Joy has produced a spectacular debut single that oozes commercial appeal. We’d strongly suggest targeting BBC introducing, BBC London and further Northern BBC stations. This guy has great potential and we can’t wait to hear what he does next!