The Retrospectives – Room with No View EP

The city of Sheffield isn’t the first place you’d think to look for giant, electronic-tinged, indie music. Yet, that’s exactly where trio The Retrospectives come from. Room With No View, their debut EP, seems too ambitious to be constrained by such pokey borders, beginning as it does with track Forever. It’s a volley of instrumentals that show off the band’s flair for anthemia. It’s a chaotic whirlwind of frenzied fretwork and clattering percussion that over the course of the 4-track effort can start to drag. However, there is no tarnishing the fact that they have created some brilliant soundscapes.

I Have Never is easily the finest piece of work on the EP. Is it ground breaking? No. But The Retrospectives are rare in that they are neither pretentious nor cynical. They’re using old-school approaches to write high-calibre pop with unquestionable skill, and it’s a pity there aren’t more bands writing songs as timeless as these.

The Retrospectives main strength is their inability to write a boring song , which offers plenty of hope for the future. Room With No View is a succinct collection that bodes well for a full length album.

Standout Track: I Have Never

Naomi Couper

Room with No View is out now. Listen to tracks by The Retrospectives on their Soundcloud page.