| Popmasters |
 This one’s a Glasgow baby through and through. Birthed amid the ramshackle cacophonia of dorm-room jam sessions, and then rushed through to an especially pimply adolescence, this jagged little fragment of hyperactive twee pop somehow managed to grow into a gangly, undersized amalgam of the Raincoats, Vaselines and Belle & Sebastian. Led by lost angel Jihae Simmons, whose voice is, in fact, more Eugene Kelly than Frances McKee, the Royal We rocks just the way any other wobbly gig loaded with artsy part-time barista types ought to. Except that these guys also possess the rare ability to write stupid-good songs.
For starters, the ukulele on “Back and Forth All Day” is just about as dry as good British humor gets, stomping all over the prissy little tea parties of lesser devils like The Boy Least Likely To. Furthermore, Simmons tends to write the sort of lyrics you can basically memorize after three listens while thankfully sidestepping the more than occasional four-tracked Alanis-isms of soul sister Kimya Dawson. Instead, lyrics that run, “Call this home ‘cause you’re my sweet / And home sweet home is where we meet / So please be patient at the station / Nothing will bring our defeat,” register as razor ammunition for the album’s greater rejection of lame “hit it and quit it” jive posturing. Other tunes to tackle the subject include the stupendously repetitive “All the Rage,” as well as the referential/reverential “I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll.”...full text |
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| Allmusic |
| The Royal We sound like a computer program designed them to be the ideal Scottish pop group. Take Josef K's angular, danceable rhythms, add some of the Pastels' innocent charm and Belle & Sebastian's archly witty lyrical bent, sprinkle on a fair bit of the girl group sass of the Shop Assistants and the FU attitude of the Jesus and Mary Chain, and you get the picture. Only the Royal We don't sound calculated or fake; they bring the template to life with some amazingly hooky songs on their debut self-titled record. (Debut and only, because the group split soon after the record's initial release in December of 2006.) "All the Rage" is the breakout song from the record and it deserves any positive notice thrown its way. From the dramatic opening to the uplifting chorus and through to the handclaps and "ooh ooh ooh ah" backing vocals, the song is as exciting as punky indie pop gets. Two other album tracks aren't far behind: "Three Is a Crowd," which rides a great guitar riff and drum pattern, and "I Hate Rock n Roll," a brutally honest takedown of male rock star hijinks with singer Jihae Simmons delivering lines like "Ooh you're sexy like T. Rexy/Put that body away" in a manner that's sure to put the boys in their proper place. The rest of the album is solid and fun, nothing to sneeze at for sure. There are two problems with the album, though; the first is minor, and the second is very sad. First, Joan Sweeney's slightly annoying presence on the violin begins to wear on the ears after a bit. On a few of the songs the sound is integrated well ("All the Rage" especially), but the rest of the time Sweeney saws along in a little bubble that floats outside of the songs like a bee you can't quite swat. Her work on the band's otherwise great cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" almost single-handedly sinks the group's efforts. However, for the most part, the songs and performances by the rest of the band are good enough to make it possible to ignore the violin. Second, it's painful that this will be the only Royal We record ever. Many of the band's members moved on to other quite good bands (Sexy Kids, Bricolage, Correcto), but the chemistry they had as the Royal We will be hard to replicate. Any band that creates a song as thrilling as "All the Rage" will be missed -- and listeners shouldn't miss The Royal We, the only document of their time together....full text |
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| Dustedmagazine |
Once upon a time in Glasgow, six people met, discovered their shared pop sensibilities and presumable fondness for lolcats, and started a band called the Royal We. It lasted for about a year, whereupon singer Jihae Simmons went back to Los Angeles, guitarist Patrick Doyle joined a band called Correcto, and everyone else went about his or her business like a normal private citizen. The Royal We, either a very short album or an eight-song EP, is Domino’s document of that year-or-so of majestic plurality.
That’s about all there is to it. The record, like the band itself, is buoyed by the single “All the Rage,” which is neither slick nor particularly professional but completely catchy in a joyful and effortless kind of way. From there, it’s downhill, albeit at a very gentle slope. There’s the confused evil-blues number “That Ain’t My Sweet Love,” the winningly nonsensical high-school-band jam “Willy,” and a mildly riotous take on Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Love.” Perhaps if the single, slaphappy violin that follows these songs around were a string quartet, the Royal We might have been a slightly more obvious version of Belle & Sebastian. As it is, for production values and all-around effort, it was more like a party thrown by and for people who had a passing interest in Belle & Sebastian and knew, more or less, how to play an instrument....full text |
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