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A Magazine for Sheffield

Luxury Goods This Is No Time To Dance

Thoughtful, elegant and explosively confident, Luxury Goods offers the message to love yourself and embrace life.


Released: 16 September 2022
This Is No Time To Dance

Well, you know how much I love an EP, so who do we have this month? Step forward Sheffield-based Luxury Goods (FKA LIO), who have sated my October thirst with the release of this excellent four-track offering. Introductions for this self-styled "bold, powerful and unapologetic" band? It would be rude not to, so let's say hello to Leonie Sloots (vocals/guitar), Jonathan Wright (lead guitar) and Richard Blakey (drums).

This is a flawless debut, one that showcases mesmeric hooks and discordant, introspective lyrics in a beautiful melange of so-bang-up-to-date-it's-in-the-future pop. Opener 'Tiny Moving Parts' sets the tone with syncopated guitar, doomy synths and surgical precision drums. They provide the perfect backdrop for Sloot's sardonic lyrics and soaring vocals, which take the song by the scruff of its neck and drag it kicking and screaming through 4:12 of sonic seduction.

Blakey serves up a main meal of jarring, skittering drumming that successfully propels 'Again' to a different level. Add a side order of squelchy synths and a truly melodious vocal and you can hear why the band have been championed by the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music and have an impressive festival record, with Tramlines, Long Division, and Y Not under their belts.

"You say everything will be alright / But everything will never be the same" observes Sloots on the introspective and personal 'PM', where clever lyrics synchronise effortlessly with thoughtful musicianship. This band have no fear in allowing a song the space to truly breathe. Closer 'Suffocated' – the EP's standout – marries stunning, echoey harmonies and a hymnal, soaring vocal with mature sonics that smartly play to a sense of restraint.

On this evidence, Luxury Goods have laid down an exceptionally strong marker. As I've mentioned in other reviews recently, the EP format once again serves to prove solid grounding in creating band identity and focus.

The step up to LP level will surely provide the opportunity for the band – and Sloots' gilt-edged vocal in particular – to explore wider musical and lyrical landscapes, especially with such a solid foundation of songs already in the bank. Thoughtful, elegant and explosively confident, Luxury Goods offer the message to love yourself and embrace life. An LP, please. And soon.

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