The Sextape Release “Queen of the Fools”

If you’ve followed alternative rock at all in the past few months, you already know something about The Sextape, whose reputation for distributing big riffs and killer beats alongside shaking vocal harmonies is internationally known.

This summer, the Russia-based band is back with a new single “Queen of the Fools,” and although there’s perhaps never been quite as unique a time to be recording new music as the present, they don’t sound shaken by current events keeping their home country in the news. The music video further demonstrates how committed this group is to making music that’s about more than themselves, and whether you dig The Sextape or not, it’s a release I’d tell you to go take a look at before the season is over.

“Queen of the Fools” definitely spotlights the relationship between its vocals and the riffs more than it does any of the other components in the music, but this doesn’t mean it’s not a streamlined track – I’d even say it’s one of the smoother numbers in this band’s discography. They don’t try to hide what their aesthetical goals are in this single; if anything, I think The Sextape is producing something in their latest work that stands to reassert who they want to be both in and outside of the studio. They’ve got a more focused energy concerning how the words are a direct extension of the music and vice versa, which is something that can take an entire lifetime to perfect.

The music video for “Queen of the Fools” is conceptually simplistic by my measurement, which allows for the natural color within the music to become the sole object of our affection. There’s a lot of substance to this song that goes well beyond the words, but the surreal imagery accompanying the verses here is a nice added touch that doesn’t go over the top at all – the opposite, from where I sit. When we’re given a chance to hear the intricacies just within the melodic ascending and descending of the guitar melodies in this single, there’s no dismissing it as another release from a band whose formula does not need heavy augmentation.

The Sextape has more to offer than that, and you can’t deny it after listening to this song.

I haven’t listened to a complete album from these guys yet, but the buzz being generated on the strength of “Queen of the Fools” has me eager to hear what they’re going to sound like in their totality. There are quite a few interesting rock bands emerging from the shadows of the European underground at the moment, but this act is proving that they have the stuff to keep up with a younger crowd – if not eclipse them in a few areas of artistic maturity. There are still ways that I think The Sextape is going to grow, but for what I look for in an unfiltered rock sound, theirs is a top-tier modern contender regardless of the material in question.

Mindy McCall