The Denzels are a five-piece band from Brooklyn, NY. Their newest offering is the impressive Easy Tiger, which just so happens to be the inaugural release from Brooklyn upstart label Admirable Traits. Easy Tiger needs no drawn out introduction - it is a five-song EP full of jangly garage pop that is short, sweet and, perhaps most importantly, accessible.
Easy Tiger kicks off with the upbeat "Black Girls," a track that quickly set the feel for the rest of the album. Although nothing is quite as fast as "Black Girls," the rest of Easy Tiger is soaked in reverb and surprisingly easy to enjoy. Track 2, "Rae Rae," finds the band singing "I like you, I want to keep it that way." I can't help but say the same thing about The Denzels.
The Denzels have ultimately written an EP that blends a number of influences without digging themselves into the confines of any specific one. What we get is a band that could have come from either California or New York. West coast surf rock with a brooding, East Coast-transplant frontman... or even a bunch of Brooklyn-based musicians who decided to challenge the cold, precise indie rock their city is known for. "Shaking" and "Waterfront" are both telling examples of this theory - they owe just as much to Surfer Blood as they do to Turn on the Bright Lights-era Interpol, and perhaps even more to The Smiths. Either way, there is a bit of everything here, and nothing sounds phoned in.
"Cure," Easy Tiger's closing track, is an incredible build up to a fitting finale. Somewhere around 3:00, a mark where half of their other songs had already ended, the band coalesces into a wave of perfect, shimmering pop. Just as soon as it came, the wave is gone; this is a craft the Denzels have perfected. Nothing on Easy Tiger is ever more than it needs to be, and that is very refreshing.
With every song clocking in at around 3:00 (with the exception of, "Cure"), Easy Tiger comes and goes pretty quickly at under 20 minutes. This is very much a good thing - nothing here is overdone and everything is accessible and relevant. If nothing else, Easy Tiger is a very promising release from both the Denzels and Admirable Traits.
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