Released: 12th June 2020
Rating: ★★★★
There comes a moment in every band’s career where they focus in on what they want to achieve. Ambition can sometimes be seen as a dirty word, one that goes above simply the music with a desire for something more. This ain’t no dirty word reader, it’s a glorious statement of intent for bands filled with a confidence to go to the very top. It’s a confidence and hunger that rings throughout ‘Under My Influence’, The Aces’ second record that’s filled with the sort of tracks and laser-focused vision that sets The Aces apart as a pop force bound to take over.
‘Under My Influence’ is packed with the sort of razor-sharp pop that doesn’t pause for you to think twice. The fizzing Nile Rodgers-esque cuts of ‘New Emotion’ and ‘Zillionaire’ are disco party-starters of the highest order. ‘Daydream’ and ‘Lost Angeles’ are the sort of anthems that you simply won’t be able to escape for the rest of the year, while ‘Can You Do’ struts with a Moves Like Jagger ease that knocks out the competition around them. Throughout, every track and moment is impeccably melded together, indie-pop on the grandest scale. The one-two of ‘801’ and ‘I Can Break Your Heart Too’ are smooth 00s pop in their own right, from a record that flits with ease between eras whilst feeling undeniably of the now.
The Aces prove on ‘Under My Influence’ that there may not be a band as ready as them to seize 2020 like them. An album of towering pop presence that would sound just as mammoth in teenage bedrooms as it does blaring out of a car on the open road. The Aces have ambition, and it’s never sounded better.
Jamie Muir
