Live Review: IYES ‘No Wonder’

IYES are keen to make an impression. A week ago we got their first single ‘So Crazy’ from the new Part One EP, and now we’ve got the second piece of the puzzle, ‘No Wonder’.

Josh Christopher’s vocals softly anchor the lead female vox from Melis Soyaslanová, as she grumbles ‘Bored of the conversation / You’re over confident, don’t make it easy for me’. We’ve all been lumbered with that person at a party. What this cumbersome fun sponge doesn’t know is that Josh and Melis are actually the ones who will be ‘livin it up’, thanks to a catchy hook and a chorus that paints a landscape filled with:

'Fool's gold safari, Hawaii come party/Going my Ferrari 'cause I'll be living it up

At the party, root jap Jacuzzi/Bless me then excuse me

'Cause I'll be living it up/Sunset in Bali, diamonds and money

Watch me on the TV 'cause I'll be living it up'.

The lyrical word play is fun, tongue in cheek and easy on the ear. When written down the words look like they’re taken from the verse of any number of Cali rapper, but when sung against the poppy piano chimes and drum pad, as IYES do, the song is taken to a very different genre.

Like a far-less offensive version of DENA’s ‘Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools’, ‘No Wonder’ conjures up images of easy breezy summer evenings, cruising along a coastal highway in shades, rooftop down, naturally.

A welcome retro guitar solo in the mid-section adds to the suave-ness, reminiscent of Metronomy’s excellent ‘The English Riviera’ album, and IYES have put together a tasteful and classy second single. A slightly mellower counterpart to the first single, ‘So Crazy’, the two complement each other well on the Part One EP, which is out now via Love By Mistake.

Words by Katie Rowley

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IYES 'SO CRAZY'