Napoleon Baby Release New Single ‘The Company’
“The problem is, there’s still so much to be pissed off about, we can’t be the only ones in the room left shouting”
Napoleon Baby write with an angular perspective on life. The trio, borne two thirds from England, a third from New Zealand, have been working hard at brewing a heady concoction of anthems, that speak to the injustices, irritations and painful daily observations of life.
Authenticity, that current buzzword being thrown about with liberal abandon, actually lands with Napoleon Baby, whose current crop of songs hit squarely at the haves and have nots in current society, without pandering to either, rather offering a snapshot of social commentary that lets you know that people’s cards are being marked, and by questioning the current status quo, is a statement of liberation, a pronouncement of the national consciousness of a people that are hurting.
The debut single, The Company sheds light on the value of ambition against the comfort of staying still; railing against a life where you’re lost in the company you keep and resigned to a life that doesn’t fit who you want to be.
As chief songwriter, Dan Armstrong, elaborates, “I always find it strange, when people have hopes and ambitions that are so achievable but would rather get lost in the comfort of money, small amounts of power and never leaving a 20 mile radius. There is life to be lived! Of the small towns I’ve visited over the, Auckland is the strangest. It’s a sprawling city, whose residents very rarely want to leave, or stray from their cliques. They feel a need to stay the same but secretly want to be different”
This is not adolescent punk angst, but more a considered and intelligent narrative wrapped up in glistening guitar hooks and a solid rhythm section, that challenges the somnambulistic groove, society has found itself living.
Influences are broad and beautiful, encompassing Nina Simone and The Everly Brothers, Thom Yorke and nods to Arcade Fire, Talking Heads, The Modern Lovers, and Violent Femmes; essentially artists who effectively place the audience in the driving seat of the wide screen panorama Napoleon Baby are creating.
Napoleon Baby manage to inhabit the contemporary, while exercising a traditional approach to song writing, effectively delivering substance alongside style.
Napoleon Baby will be playing live across NZ during June.
