Reaching back for aughts nostalgia, but clawing into the future, Ireland’s bodydouble have debuted with moxie. In the form of “The Tone,” the duo blast through two minutes and forty-six seconds of R&B influenced electro pop that in both sound and theme recalls legends of years past. From The Ready Set to Jason Derulo, or Iyaz to 3oh!3, it’s the kind of track where if you were there, you know, and if you weren’t, well now you do.
“The Tone” shuffles through the melancholy with smooth vocals, integral guitars, and a wall of percussion that is unmistakably boybandish; both appealing to the masses and the producer’s ear’s dream. But despite the nostalgia, the impressive debut tackles the indisputably modern; “the promise and impossibility of connection.”
Words by Andy Gorel
Photos by Evan Cahill
“Part truth, part fantasy, bodydouble materialised. ‘The Tone’ revealed itself to us. The ‘problem’ at the heart of the song, is both the promise and impossibility of connection. “
“Two years ago we got together to make some new music. We have a shared love of the R&B and Pop music of the mid 2000s. We found very quickly that while working on our solo projects is fun, there is actually nothing more fun than a nylon string guitar sample played on a Casio keyboard. We made a playlist called ‘Oh (Snap)’ full of our favorite 2000s tracks (Usher, Ne-Yo, Mario etc.) and still refer to them as ‘The Sacred Texts.’
As the singles emerged, so too did the characters at the centre of our story. Part truth, part fantasy, bodydouble materialised. ‘The Tone’ revealed itself to us. The ‘problem’ at the heart of the song, is both the promise and impossibility of connection. The phone is the central object of this dilemma, the pair croon and lament, desperate for the subject of their desire to answer, but they are fated to wait in vain. They live out their vacuous and excessive lifestyle, replete with the trappings of glamour, but devoid of anyone with whom to share them. ‘The Tone’ captures all of these themes simultaneously, in a smell.”
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