Princess Slayer – ‘Passion Alley’ [Review]
Although I’m a big Princess Slayer fan, and I’m used to instantly loving everything they come out with, this track will take a while to grow on me. Passion Alley has been a PS live set mainstay since I first came across these guys – and this latest on-record version is a lot more radio-friendly than previous incarnations.
That said, my reservations are to be expected – as a music critic whose home genres are rock, metal, prog, and oddball experimental stuff I’m not even remotely in Princess Slayer’s target market, and targeted radio-friendliness is obviously likely to set off some mental alarm bells in my case. To me, Princess Slayer are a rare exception among the EDM acts of the world thanks to their immense live musicianship and mastery of hypersyncopated grooves – and I’m happy to say that those qualities have actually been pushed to the fore on Passion Alley (along with said commercial orientation). Hence the fact that it’s growing on me.
Crystal-clear (and always unique) vocals, cutesy 8-bit blips, and that deep and sexy formerly-instrumental groove section (which I personally prefer without words on top) are all present and correct, and even as I write this I’m quickly acclimatising to Princess Slayer V2. Within a few days, my choice of words on the topic of this single will likely be back to full-on hyperbolic ranting (the TMMP-considering-Princess-Slayer standard) – but right now, you should definitely press play and start getting into it regardless of my current level of cognitive dissonance.
CURRENT TMMP RATING: 85%
LIKELY TMMP RATING IN 3 DAYS’ TIME: 92%
Links / Listen
Princess Slayer official website.
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