GLOSSY BOY The Glossy EP

On Rotation: GLOSSY BOY 'Paranoid'

Imagine you’re on a road trip with your friends. There’s a pleasant warmth, and the journey begins with the sun high in the sky. As the journey progresses, the sun gradually sets, culminating in a beautiful sunset. Conversations ebb and flow, leaving each person lost in their thoughts. The windows are down, and an EP plays, providing the soundtrack to every moment of the journey. The perfect EP for this would be “The Glossy EP” by Glossy Boy.

Glossy Boy is an indie pop band formed in London, composed of three childhood friends: Cris, Ryan, and Zack. Influenced by bands like The Kooks, Blossoms, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Two Door Cinema Club, The 1975, and Harry Styles, Glossy Boy offers a fresh, fun, and catchy sound, filled with foot-tapping melodies and lyrics that make you smile. Their debut EP, “The Glossy EP,” showcases their talent and personality, with five songs reflecting their experiences, tastes, and feelings.

The EP and all its singles were recorded at J & J Studios by Jim Barr, renowned for his work with Portishead. “Hey Julia” opens the EP. It’s a cheerful and jovial song about a girl, with very creative rhymes and a melody that envelops you. It conveys the feeling of early dates with a woman and is perfect for a car ride. Simple and soft tones set the journey in motion. “Bored” continues the journey: a song about a relationship that has become dull, with a catchy chorus and stellar bass lines. A changing rhythm and the urge to move to its beat are its highlights.

“Campus Crawl” takes the first turn of the wheel. It’s a more rock-oriented and raw song about the darker side of one-night stands, with powerful guitars and a raspy voice. It doesn’t lose the good vibes of the EP at all, but it conveys a more reflective spirit. It allows for doses of nostalgic beauty, producing a smile from the good old times. The deep moment gains more weight with “The Girl Who Feels No Pain,” the EP’s ballad, a song about a girl who has become insensitive to love due to a series of bad experiences, with an emotive guitar and a deep voice that builds a story, perhaps the deepest moment of the EP.

“Paranoid” closes the EP and is the sunset in the sky, the last minutes of a beautiful journey. Inspired by pop-punk, it focuses on the torment of jealousy in a relationship, with contagious energy and a distorted guitar. It addresses the theme with sobriety and distance that exhibits the naturalization of certain emotions and dynamics within some relationships.

The five songs complement each other and show what Glossy Boy has to offer, and together they work best, dancing through different emotions without losing the spirit of the band. It’s a very listenable band, with classic indie-pop good vibes. The influence of the artists’ long-standing friendship is evident in how chill the vibe is, just like when you meet up with a friend from many years ago.