By Keith Walsh
Bringing the best of 80s Retrowave, the brilliant new track by Taurus 1984, called “Rosebud” (with a nod to Citizen Kane) straddles the razor’s edge between genres. Keyboardist/guitarist/songwriter Alastair Jenkins told me that he intended to target specific styles.
Jenkins explains: “It’s exactly the sound we were going for. I was quite influenced for this song by the British modern synth-pop group The 1975. Their songs ‘She’s American and ‘Ugh’ always stood out to me as amalgamating the styles of 80s grooves, pop, R&B, funk and rock quite seamlessly so I wanted to put our take on that broad formula.”
Written by Jenkins and bandmate Bobby Cole, “Rosebud” is mixed and mastered by Michael Oakley and presented in a colorful video directed by Jenkins. Karl Lewis smashes it with his lead vocal performance. Lewis will be one of five vocalists on the upcoming new album, Modern Romance. “I met Karl reasonably recently through Shellyann,” explains Jenkins. “He had worked with Shelly for some time, even appearing on the same TV show as her (The BBC’s All Together Now.) I reached out and we became fast friends. He’s such a breeze to work with and has a really killer voice. We have another single with Karl coming out in a few months which we’re excited to share! We look forward to working more together in the future!”
Jeris Spencer, who sang on the track “Dream Warriors,” delivers sexy background vocals and Keirran Tomkins plays an energetic bass groove. Jenkins says: “The bass player is my good friend Keirran Tomkins, he is an absolute mind melting bass player and all round top guy! He plays bass for an amazing Michael Jackson tribute group and slays it with them! We are really looking forward to working with him on the next record/ep and for potential future live shows!” The smooth and sultry saxophone solo is by Steve Sax.
The tune has the glossy synths that are trademarks of the mid 80s, after FM synthesis, especially the Yamaha DX7, took over. “They add such a shimmer and brightness to a song,” says Jenkins. “I’m borderline obsessed with the DX7 electric piano patch 01. I adore how emotive it is! It’s used in late 80s/90s R&B, pop and funk for me is so important. It has so much life, style and class to it, in my opinion. We use it pretty much on every song on this record.”
I asked Jenkins about the F bomb in the song,(it’s done with artistic license.) “Yeah, you heard the F-bomb,” says Jenkins.. “It was a tricky call to keep it in there for such a pop/radio friendly style song, however I didn’t want to take away or censor the direction of where it was lyrically which I felt was important.”
F Bomb or not, the tune definitely delivers a groove. I’m looking forward to Modern Romance! The album, to be released in Spring, will be mixed and produced by Michael Oakley.
Taurus 1984 On Instagram
Taurus 1984 On Facebook
Taurus 1984 On Twitter
Taurus 1984 On Spotify
finis
