With all the hype surrounding the B-Town scene, it’s easy to forget Troumaca. Not fitting in with Peace, Swim Deep and Jaws’ jangly, reverb drenched indie, they nevertheless have an impressive talent, like the others, for writing a great song.
That said, Troumaca are a completely different beast altogether, with early EPs showing a band mixing dub-basslines, twinkling guitars and urgent, commanding vocals. Where their peers drift along, drenched in reverb, Troumaca get up and shake you awake.
The Grace continues the sterling work of their previous work. Opening track ‘Trees’ glides in, soft guitar lines, atmospheric rumblings in the background, slowly building. Then all of a sudden, a pulsating bassline, TEED-like synth stabs and vocalist Sam Baylis’ yelps come together for one of the most instantly likeable and danceable songs on the album.
Instead of repetitive, squelchy 10 minute long drones that dub music has started become in places, these are perfectly crafted indie-pop songs. The influences from hip-hop and indie, as well as reggae and dub, only strengthen the good vibes.
Tracks seemingly meld into each other, although this is one of the albums weaknesses in some ways. Each track has a very set structure, and it gets easy to predict where they are going. But at the same time, it’s a good formula, why mess with it? Troumaca have found a sound that no one else is using, and while everyone else is pillaging the 90′s for anything and everything, they’re steaming ahead with their dub dream.
The Grace is an album full of songs to dance to, sit chilling to and songs to get lost in, but at the same time it’s a very niche album. Let’s be honest, dub isn’t fashionable. Peace and Swim Deep can sit comfortably knowing that, for the time being, they are the ‘in’ thing, but Troumaca may always be overshadowed by the rest of B-Town.
This is unfair though. The Grace is a solid debut and one that pushes more boundaries than their peers.
7/10