Don BrocoTechnology

When I first heard Don Broco, I had several moments of sheer, head-scratching befuddlement. The British quartet appeared to churn out tracks that were, admittedly, kind of all over the place: heavy, down-tuned rock riffs, stupid poppy radio choruses, cheeky little bass slides, tongue-in-cheek, self-referential lyrics, and some of the whackest (and highly entertaining) music videos of 2017. But the more I listened, I slowly became more curious… Then intrigued… Then absorbed… And then finally, utterly and totally infatuated.

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After listening to Technology, the group’s highly-anticipated third LP, I’ve now arrived at a somewhat modest conclusion: Don Broco are my guilty pleasure. There, I said it. Here you may ask, ‘yeah alright, but what exactly makes a guilty pleasure anyway?’ Well, let me tell you (and look, I write about music for kicks, so I was always going to force this opinion on you, even if you opted out). Don Broco write great, undeniable songs—and Technology is absolutely stacked with them.

One of the most inventive, daring and undeniably-catchy rock records of the decade.

Now, rather than try to convince you with typical, music-journo fluff, I’m just going to list everything great about this record: the rattlesnake sound effects, throbbing bass and mosh-sections of Stay Ignorant; how drummer Matt Donnelly’s sexy back-up vocal rubs up against the acoustic strums and stomping kicks in the title track’s second verse; frontman Rob Damiani’s positively soaring second chorus in T-Shirt Song, and how it cracks the ceiling, only to double-down on the epic factor with a swelling string section; Pretty’s naughty, warbling synths; guitarist Simon Delaney’s ear for subtle yet engaging melodies in The Blues; those involuntary head-bangs that Everybody induces, thanks to Donnelly’s rolling hi-hat and the plucky, wandering rhythms from bassist Tom Doyle; how Greatness feels like Fall Out Boy meets INXS meets Prince, despite how completely bonkers that comparison looks on paper; the delicate slowburn of Got To Be You; the melancholic ode to goodbyes and rapid-onset alcoholism in album closer Something To Drink.

On their third album, Don Broco have gone full creative beast-mode, fearlessly blending heavy riffs, dancefloor pop-funk fusion and stratospheric choruses, to make one of the most inventive, daring and undeniably-catchy rock records of the decade. Clocking in at 50 minutes, with 14 whole tracks, Technology feels like a rock revelation in our single-oriented, self-curated, playlist-dominated world. It’s clear that the band and long-time collaborator Dan Lancaster (Bring Me The Horizon, Blink-182, Lower Than Atlantis) aren’t afraid to take risks, and thankfully, almost every single one here yields a dead-set banger. Simply put, Technology is good, fun, pleasurable shit. Guilty or otherwise.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Technology, Greatness, T-Shirt Song
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Fall Out Boy, Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari