The Tropicanas Are Back with Their Emotional New Single, ‘Sunflowers’

After bursting onto the scene in 2015, gaining attention and considerable airtime from BBC Radio 6 and BBC Radio Scotland, the West-Lothian based quintet have released a large discography of indie-pop styled music. 

Their latest single – ‘Sunflowers’ – creates a unique, heartfelt, spin on their usual, sprightly content but nonetheless, portrays a strong and meaningful message. 

Inspired by other bedroom-pop, indie artists within their genre, The Tropicanas pay homage to the likes of Mac DeMarco, Stevie R. Moore and Tame Impala by creating similar guitar melodies and rhythm patterns as well as providing their own take on the vastly expanding bedroom pop scene by adding their signature vibrant chord progressions, basslines and vocals, to create an overall indie-pop triumph.  

With the moral of ‘Sunflowers’ referring to life pre-lockdown, the track aims to remind the listener of how crucial it is to take care of one another and to live in the moment because if there is one thing that the current global pandemic has taught people, it is that nothing in life is ever guaranteed. The track also emphasizes the importance of taking life’s challenges in one’s stride and that difficulty should be embraced with gratitude instead of resentment, for it is more rewarding to learn and adapt than it is to live in anger and remorse.  

  

Their production methods reflect this argument as the track itself sounds hopeful. The guitar chords used create a feeling of happiness but also reflection and therefore allow the listener to ponder what their perspective of ‘Sunflowers’ actually is. The brilliance of the track allows each listener to create their own viewpoint and opinion on what their lives were like before lockdown. This then creates a landscape that is full of different emotions, all because The Tropicanas decided to create a project that evokes thinking and feeling. For this reason alone, they should be commended.  

  

Their sound is distinctive and with their positive, high-spirited nature seeping through their music, The Tropicanas appear to have a very promising future. The versatility demonstrated in ‘Sunflowers’ shows how diverse their musical knowledge is and accompanied with their song-writing skills, it is fair to say that the sky is the limit for this Scottish five-piece. We only have to watch and wait to see how far they go. 

Charles Scarrott

@charleshs_

Image: The Tropicanas Official ‘Sunflowers’ Track Artwork (PRESS)