With the release of their sublime third EP Sofa Kings, Sydney-based Royel Otis has announced plans to embark on their first U.S. headlining tour. Which will include a performance at the historic venue The Roxy in Los Angeles on September 7th, as well as stops at The Chapel in San Francisco and Tractor Tavern in Seattle.
Guided by duo Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic, the sleek pop that Royel Otis creates is defined by its rubbery and buoyantly galvanizing melodies. Sofa Kings places them at an intersection of polished anthemics and the kind of raw indie-rock that was bouncing around in the early 00s.
On early singles like “I Wanna Dance With You,” they trade jangly guitars and fuzzy sunburst sonics over their romantically delirious wails. The EP is filled with such ebulliently kinetic submergences, from the driving dreaminess and glimmering riffs of its opening track “Kool Aid” to the dizzying freneticism that spirals within “Going Kokomo.”
One of the defining blisses of listening to Royel Otis is their ability to inspire such giddiness. Their music plucks away at the velvety heartstrings in a way that captures life’s exquisite bittersweetness. For all its pop exuberance Sofa Kings assures that the duo is just as potent when they’re disappearing behind azure melancholia — as on the EP’s title track “Sofa King.”
Sure they can capture the electrifying jubilance of romance but they’re just as capable of giving voice to self-eviscerating reflection and heartbreak. As they do via the grating vocalizations that roll drearily over a tangle of acoustic croons on “Letter From Roy,” or on the haunting “Farewell Warning,” which twinkles out of existence amidst the clang of piano keys and the duo’s ghostly coos.
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See Royel Otis at The Roxy in Los Angeles on September 7th.
Visit Royel Otis on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Royel Otis tour
9/7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
9/8 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
9/10 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
9/11 – Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret
9/12 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
9/15 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
9/17 – St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam
9/18 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
9/19 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
9/20 – Toronto, ON @ Longboat
9/21 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar
9/23 – Atlanta, GA @ Purgatory
9/24 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Backroom
9/27 – New York, NY @ Racket
9/28 – Washington, DC @ DC9
Words: Steven Ward
Listen to Sofa Kings the new EP from Royel Otis below!
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