After dropping their video for ‘Strangers’ the Australian duo have now officially released their full-length ‘Suburbs In The Sky’.

When I initially listened to these guys I wasn’t a hundred percent convinced on their sound. It was an interesting mix of the traditional clean vocals, and MCing, but it was a little bit too poppy in parts for me. I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t a huge fan from the very beginning. I wasn’t overly hyped to the point of hyperventilating, what? Yes, sometimes that does happen. Fear not though, if I still thought that you wouldn’t currently be reading this review, so there’s a happy ending to this (The first song alone gave me reason to be persuaded of my foley, yeah I said foley what? I’m English).

I did at first have a funny relationship with Droopy’s production. A 3rd of the tracks I was thinking, this is so weird and off-I love it! Then others I felt as though it was perhaps a bit too poppy. However after the first listen of the album I started to understand the reasoning behind some of Droopy’s production choices. Now I’m not sure if I’m right, I could be making it up as I go along. It seemed to me that it was all a conscious decision on Droopy’s part for some of it to correlate to Dox Phonic’s vocals, or content, whereas other parts of the production are at constant odds with the themes of the songs, and Dox’s vocal tone. Thus, both Droopy and Dox Phonic stand out in their own right, respectfully and it all makes sense both vocally and instrumentally.

Dox handles the vocals and MCing of the two, and has a great ability of changing up his vocal skill and tone, so much so that during a few verses I had to pause and make sure it wasn’t a guest rapper. To be able to achieve that in MCing and singing (especially rapping) is no easy feat, and Dox Phonic has that talent to throw his voice on to any instrumental and make it sound fresh and new. I was also really impressed with how good a storytelling he is, and manages to deal with common theme, and not so common with the same realist and honest approach. It’s my humble opinion a lot of bad rappers that want to jump on a fad, and claim indie status think that if they write songs about drug abuse, guns in schools, or freeing Palestine then it’s going to be an instant underground hit. No, that’s not how it works I’m afraid buddy. If it’s not sincere, and it’s not real then most people will spot you a mile off. With Deuce Kicks I get the feeling that the subjects and themes were discussed within this EP because they were either going through it themselves, or generally wanted to write a song about it. No pretention or fakery needed.

Now for some of you, you’ll love this straight away, and for others you might need a bit more time to come around, but for my part I suggest you give these guys a good chance at convincing you. For fans of Beautiful Eulogy, Lupe Fiasco, Yelawolf (NOT for his content, but for the vocal style. Disclaimer mate).

– Words: Aimee

For album links (free or paid, but don’t be a sucker) and the band’s website – http://deucekicks.com/suburbs-in-the-sky/