Release of the Week – Crocodylus ‘My Baby’
At a time where there seem to be more emerging rock bands in Sydney than you can poke a drum stick at, Crocodylus take a divergent approach, and this week they showed why. Taking their loud and energetic garage rock sound, Crocodylus have completely slowed things down. The result is ‘My Baby’, a short but sweet track that draws upon the simplicity of 1960s love songs, but puts a modern twist on the pop conventions.
Opening with a soft drum beat and a playfully generic four-chord progression, the bass and the guitar bounce between each other as backup vocals sweep and swoon over the top of the instrumentation. Musically, the slower and cleaner sound is a welcome diversion from the heavier garage influences of their other tracks. Reminiscent of old songs from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Johnny O’Keefe and the Dee Jays, The Ink Spots, and early tracks by The Beatles, ‘My Baby’ is soothing, easy to listen to, and most importantly, romantic. This is vintage style is only made more evident as the lead singer enters with a high-pitched squeak, serenading the audience as he pines for his baby.
Once this old pop sound is established, Crocodylus do everything to explore, experiment with and subvert the audience’s expectations. The lyrics offer a dark and ironic take on a love song, bringing in the bittersweet melancholy of 21st century artists. With the opening line “you said you’d talk to me, but you never got back to me” and the repeated chorus “my baby, she’s dead to me,” this song isn’t an emotional declaration of one’s undying love, it’s not even sad lament over losing love. The instrumentation works to subvert the audience’s expectations as well. Often when transitioning between verse, chorus and vice versa, the drums will ramp up as the guitar becomes harsher and more garage-sounding, teasing the audience and making them think the song is about to explode. However, when it suddenly stops, the energy that is build is thrown aside as the slow pace is reintroduced. This continues into the last chorus, when a subtle key change is introduced and the instrumentation starts to pick up, and you can sense that the garage rock roots of Crocodylus are never far away. This results in an ending sequence that blasts the audience with emotion and sound, with a harmonica roaring over the many musical layers like a man, crying or wailing over their baby.
‘My Baby’ is a welcome change of pace for Crocodylus that introduces some forgotten musical simplicity, only to then subvert and complicate these vintage pop conventions.
