Optimism is difficult in the face of new experiences. Be a realist, and the problems of life seem pitiful. Debut EP Eternal Optimist pits Isla Rico against everyone else rattling the cage in the fourth quarter of the year – the light blues of their front cover eliciting a Swim Deep feel. For nostalgia lovers out there reliving their childhood, close your eyes and pretend Where the Heaven Are We is on. Either slight comparisons with those blue fadings around the edge of this EP or a reach beyond the stars from a music journalist with deadlines to kill and a stomach filled with toast. Fill up the word count too, five tracks will not cover it. Yet the five on display here are a fine debut display.
Outdated favourite shows and a reflection on those bittersweet memories of childhood, opening track It’s Been a Minute brings out the best in the band. Promising efforts, and exciting experiences yet a slower beat and steady pace keep Isla Rico from exploding with joy or terror. Assured and confident works are the gambit here and managed to continue through this five-track EP. Touch down in those different towns, as the band themselves did when they were formed in a tiki bar in some nondescript North West town. The odds of it being Tiki Hideaway in Manchester is high. Anyone heading there is either wanting to feed off the influence of Johnny Cash-inspired cocktails or get so drunk they dream up forming a band as a viable solution to life’s wonderful problems.
Isla Rico is in the latter camp, and their work here is just about ready to champion as something fresh. Upbeat and well-timed pieces like Honey and Maliblues are neatly touched up with those tiki origins but also sound exceptionally unique. Whistles, loops and percussion on the latter bring out a wholly individual appeal to Isla Rico – something the band will no doubt hope to cement the more they go on. What better place to start than their first proper release? Eternal Optimist gives Isla Rico an opportunity to present their unique bells and whistles, and as they do that they bring out efforts like Naranjá, a skidding electronic piece with acoustic flourishes and muffled audio. Their desire to try out new styles as they gear up for future releases is as exciting as it is necessary.
The three-piece probably knows this is the time to toy around with their style. Tinker with the little bits and pieces which bring people back to their works. They do not waste this opportunity to experiment with their works, Eternal Optimist is filled with clunky transitions from song to song but brimming with bright ideas, exciting momentum and interplay between three musicians with plenty of chemistry to show off. Isla Rico sets the benchmark with their debut EP and hopefully grow their work from here. Exciting times lie ahead for bands who can make tiki bar origins work in their favour, as it does for Eternal Optimist. Maybe it is not bad after all to hold some belief, some faith, in a band presenting themselves as a thoroughly free, fun and exciting three-piece.
