La Rocca “Sing Song Sung EP” Review

Sing Song Sung gives a brief glimpse of what is expected for the band’s debut release later this year, The Truth. Recorded under the guidance of Tony Hoffer (Beck, Belle & Sebastian) in LA, La Rocca take a brash step into blue collar indie with this 4 song EP. The title track’s coarse harmony flows smoothly through English born Bjorn Baillie’s voice, a gorgeous pattern that appears throughout the remaining tracks. For the recording, the Irish band ventured across the Atlantic in hopes of finding a wider audience. Success, it seems, is attracted to the band as recent appearances at SXSW and a feature on FOX’s The OC have seemingly proven that La Rocca’s sound has found its audience.

For the life of me, it seemed as though I couldn’t read anything written about the band that shied away from U2 comparisons. What a basic thought, that bands from the same country don’t necessarily sound the same; why then, I thought, must all Irish bands be compared to U2? Painfully, after multiple listens the similarities started to appear. While there is a raw power that U2 never captured, La Rocca liberally apply the band’s popular early ’80s sound throughout Sing Song Sung. Thankfully, however, The Edge is no where to be found.