Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from one of our favourites, Roxercat. Crime was released on January 13, 2023. It is an absolute pleasure to hear this band going from strength to strength. Crime may just be our favourite yet from these guys!
Crime is a rocking plea for people to stop giving away their power to systems designed to distract, pacify, and influence. It’s a warning to take back control of our minds, beliefs, and thoughts. It’s too easy in a fast-paced, digital world to blindly believe what you may read or hear without question and allow others to dictate whom you should love or hate.
Starting with the funkiest of basslines, with hi-hat keeping the pace, a Hammond smear signals the start of the main part of the song and we’re led into a glorious blues-rock guitar solo.
Lead vocals, provided by Price Jones, are strong and powerful. Her voice cuts through beautifully in the mix and her vocals are passionate and sung with intent. We were reminded of Ann Wilson (Heart) in the early sections of the song, and as it progresses, there were definite hints of Bonnie Tyler. Price’s delivery of the higher belted notes gave us visible goosebumps. This is a quality performance and a depth to this vocalist that has made this song shine.
The harmonies in the choruses fit perfectly and give some extra interest and we loved the stops throughout the song which explode back into more blues rock heaven.
The Hammond organ here reminded us several times of the great Jon Lord’s style of ‘smear-like’ playing and a panned left guitar solo at one point in the song is utterly to die for!
The icing on the cake for us is the breakdown with a repeated vocal lyric, Hammond and a developing guitar line which is one of the most dramatic and tension-filled builds we’ve heard in a long time.
This is a band that continues to impress us as they develop.
Ideas from our ears
A hi-pass filter at 35Hz would remove some unnecessary sub-bass rumble and a boost centred around 125Hz would add some extra weight and punch to the low end. A cut around 1kHz and a wider boost centred around 12kHz would balance out the mids and top end too, giving the whole track a little more power. Finally, a light compressor/limiter and around 5dB of make up gain would add to the warmth as well as raising the volume to match similar releases. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
Roxercat are consistently demonstrating a high level of skill and musicianship which surpasses our expectations with each new song. This 70s-influenced band come highly recommended from Send Me Your Ears.