LA-based Dublin four-piece La Rocca literally wear their influences on their sleeve. Amongst various assorted symbolic objects, the cover art of this long-awaited debut album (though it was released in the States 18 months ago) features a book by Arthur Miller and vinyl copies of Springsteen’s The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Cosmo’s Factory. Not forgetting their Irish roots, there’s also a box of Barry’s Tea.
The band aren’t going to win any awards for originality, but that’s unlikely to bother them. Produced by Tony Hoffer (who’s also worked with fellow former ex-pats The Thrills), the eleven tracks range from catchy indie pop to folk-tinged balladry to old school rock & roll. It all sounds oddly familiar, but that’s more a mark of the quality of the songwriting than any suggestion that they’re mere imitators.
Lead singer Bjorn Baillie has a wonderfully weathered voice and sings these songs of love, betrayal and regret like he means it (he also sings in an American accent, but we won’t hold that against him). The tone is set with his triumphantly shouted “Yeah!” in the uplifting intro to ballsy folk-rock opener ‘Sketches (20 Something Life)’. This is a band with a melodic mission.
Fans will already know the Supergrassy ‘Sing Song Sung’, but that’s not necessarily indicative of their sound. Springsteen himself would be proud of the melancholic ‘Some You Give Away’, and the anthemic title-track wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Stones album. Its chorus ends on the line, “And you know that the truth ain’t worth shit.” But, actually, it is.
It’s not quite a classic, but The Truth is a near perfectly formed debut from a tight and talented Irish band with a serious future ahead of them. No word of a lie.