Trophy Eyes Continue To Evolve With The Ambitious Pop-Rock Of Friday Forever
Tuesday, 31 July 2018
Written by Huw Baines
An awful lot of bands have had their U2 moment over the years, and now it’s Trophy Eyes’ turn. The Australian post-hardcore band have a new album on the way - ‘The American Dream’ is out on August 3 through Hopeless - and it finds them shedding their gruff skin in favour of shimmering, stadium-sized rock songs. A lot of people are going to struggle with it.
But the changes aren’t half-hearted. They make this stuff look pretty effortless, and that’s rarely the case when a new record involves an almost total stylistic shift. Taking its cues from frontman John Floreani’s move from Sydney to Burleson, Texas to be with his girlfriend, the LP is shot through with a polarising sense of romance and ambition.
Trophy Eyes’ new single, Friday Forever, is a perfect primer. Its video finds Floreani dancing in front of a studio mirror - sheepskin coat, crop top and creepers, like Flashdance crossed with John Motson - as the drama gets ramped up through guitars borrowed wholesale from the Edge.
The lyric sheet’s rose-tinted view of youthful abandon suits its surroundings. “Don’t you wish it was Friday forever?” Floreani asks. “Is this what the clouds feel like? Surrounded and lonely at the same time,” runs the refrain.
It’s all very BIG. It’ll doubtless take some getting used to for those who came up with Trophy Eyes on the straight-ahead ‘Mend, Move On’ (or alternatively be dismissed out of hand), but they don’t seem bothered about throwing a curveball.
Trophy Eyes play Reading and Leeds this summer.
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