Your attention span? Ruined, thanks to scrolling through millions of 12-second content bites pervading your preferred social media platform. Experimental rock outfit REPLACED BY ROBOTS – whose name is never spoken, but always screamed (?) – understands the modern human’s concentration deficit, and presents its latest, easily digestible EP, The Experiment. And, to further optimize said digestibility, this review focuses on only one song: “All the Lonely Nights.” Ready to grant your full but easily diverted attention to this rambunctious, never-restrained REPLACED BY ROBOTS rocker? Let’s talk about it.
Listening, and talking about it.
“All the Lonely Nights,” like the rest of The Experiment (which, again, we won’t cover here to avoid information overload), is ably produced by a master of experimental, artsy rock, one Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr., Morphine, Pixies). Which is, of course, an understandable alliance considering the band’s only edict was “following the creative spirit wherever it leads.”
Still with me? Good, because I’m about to press “<PLAY>.”
“All the Lonely Nights” begins with a big, song-title-exclaiming harmony over wilting Mellotron strings. And then it’s a rebellious, slightly venomous vocal over muted guitar picking and assertive, pulsing bass; it’s disaffected, sun-worn LA punk with a ‘70s-stadium rock refrain.
At about 1:28, a key change occurs; a wide sonic space forms, briefly, before sliding, aggressive guitar chords lead us right back to that stadium-filling chorus:
“All the lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly, nights.
All the lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly, lone-ly, nights.”
But is it good?
“All the Lonely Nights” features a cloud-level attitude while dripping with street-level disdain. It’s something you might hear from Iggy Pop as he writhes confidently (and, of course, shirtless) in a packed, smoky club stuffed with leather-clad punks hurling beer bottles and jagged glass ashtrays. “All the Lonely Nights” is, for those afraid of any additional time commitment, quite compact and immediately catchy (the more experimental stuff lies elsewhere on The Experiment). So, is it good? It is, and therefore, a modicum of time well spent. Recommended.
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BELOW: Listen to REPLACED BY ROBOTS and check them out on Bandcamp. Please support REPLACED BY ROBOTS by visiting them online and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing their music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.
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