American Royalty
Los Angeles' psych-pop outfit American Royalty have premiered a brand new track from upcoming EP Prismatic. Honey & Queen is the first offering from the band’s new EP, which will be released in February 2013 via Guns in the Sun Records.
Written and recorded in summer 2012 during the band's residency at The Echo in Los Angeles, Honey & Queen delivers a warm groove of 808s joined by a rhythmic parade of organic percussion patterns.
As the track bounces along, it is steered forward by a buzzing bluesy vocal that floats and weaves above the drums, its lyrics equal parts mirage and manic. Once reverbed echoes of guitar creep in, the vocal and guitar interplay melt together, both as if under the welcomed hypnosis of the psychedelic beat.
American Royalty, which includes members Marc Gilfry, Billy Scher and Mat Ungson, has been carving out a space in the music community that bridges the gap of blues rock and electronica, which Interview Magazine calls 'an electronic overhaul to their classic rock charm.'
'We love electronic sounds and this feeling that you get when they arrive,' Scher says. 'But at our core we’re songwriters and so we want some kind of melody or lyrics to grab onto. So we just naturally fuse the two styles.'
Their unique approach to the stage is one of the reasons why KCRW highlighted them as one of the 'LA bands to watch at CMJ 2012', and earned them support slots for a wide roster of talent including Metronomy, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Digitalism, The Presets, Ladyhawke, and more.