EP Review: Rise Above

Davey Beige comes straight out of the blocks on his new EP Rise Above. 80 In A 50km Zone is just what it implies, we’re off and running at almost top speed, even though “Life goes way too fast”. A song for the boy racer in everyone and one which announces clearly where Davey Beige is coming from and going to.

It’s not the colour of his suits. It’s what he calls electro-rock, to which I’ll add a touch of pop and a touch of retro, guitar based 80’s rock. The title track Rise Above chugs along with a cool guitar hook which is straight out of Aussie Rock (they called it garage).

Dave Bishop used to rock the Auckland scene as the guitarist for the Peter Stuyvesant Hitlist and the uniform was, you guessed it, safari beige suits. Probably watched the cricket as well. The suits are gone now, apparently, but the name lingers on.

Nowadays you find Davey as an academic and teacher at Toi Ohomai in Tauranga, exploring the concept of prosody (the science and the art of how lyrics and music combine) with his students and the subject of his Masters thesis. Cerebral, is Mr Beige.

Let It Go isn’t cerebral, it’s another form of road hog, the type Ric Ocasek would have been proud to perform with his Cars. But with all the energy and speed, it’s not surprising that Davey slows it down a little as The Clock Has Stopped which is where he’s at with his retro rock sound. Exquisite guitar solo on the outro leaves you gasping for more. Four songs doesn’t make an album but the promise of this small collection is out there for something bigger to follow.

Davey Beige’s EP release Rise Above is out this Friday May 6th on Spotify and Bandcamp. You must listen.