Fair enough if you remember Grande Royale from their 2017 Nicke Andersson-produced label debut on The Sign Records, Breaking News (review here), as having kind of a different sound. They were kind of a different band. On Sept. 13, the Swedish troupe will release their fourth album and second for The Sign, the 11-track/39-minute Take it Easy, and with it they undeniably enter a new era. Consistencies include a classically-influenced sound, prevalent boogie vibe and tight songcraft — all welcome — and among the striking changes are the fact that the band parted ways with their frontman and that guitarists Gustav Wremer (who took on the vocalist role) and Andreas Jenå have swapped out their rhythm section, bringing in Samuel Georgsson and drummer Johan Häll to complete the now-four-piece incarnation of the band.

As to the title, which one almost can’t help but hear in the pleading voice of Jeff Bridges as The Dude, it seems to be the entire message of encouragement from the album itself, and it arrives in “Decelerate,” a sub-three-minute tracklist-centerpiece rife with organ and recorded naturalism — Ola Ersfjord (Lucifer, Hypnos, The Riven, The Hellacopters, etc.) produced this time around — after the band has already unfurled five cuts of semi-Southern, ’70s-via-’10s argument in favor of doing just that. With Tove Abrahamsson stepping in on vocals for two tracks — among them “Hands Up,” for which the video is premiering below — Grande Royale hardly seem to have missed a beat despite all the tumult of the last two years. They even had a live record out between the two studio offerings. Kind of scary productivity, considering.

But the news is good and the prevailing spirit of Take it Easy is one of positive, upbeat times. There’s an element of escapism at play in the shove of second cut “Out of Gas” or the slide-infused “Sweet Livin’,” but little reminder of what one might actually be escaping from, which is refreshing. As they were on Breaking News, Grande Royale are an unremittingly straightforward band, and while one might hear the vocal performance on “Baby You’re a Fool” and wonder why Wremer wasn’t just fronting the band the whole time, the fact is that while they might make having been through so much change sound easy, it couldn’t possibly have been. Or at least not as easy as it sounds here. “Going Strong,” “Standing in My Way” and “On and On” round out in striking and engaging fashion, hooks prevalent and delivered smoothly with a confidence that makes one think that not much has actually changed in their approach to writing.

Meet the new era, same as the old era? Maybe, in some ways. Grande Royale do sound different than they did two years ago — how could they not? — but Take it Easy just sends its core message with such believable fluidity throughout its LP-ready run that one can’t help but think maybe they’ve been taking their own advice all along. It clearly works for them.

The video for “Hands Up” follows here, with a single-camera shot of someone dancing to the song and kind of letting loose a little bit, which is obviously the intention behind the thing. You’ll find it below, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Enjoy:

Grande Royale, “Hands Up” official video premiere

Hands Up is taken from Grande Royals fourth studio album Take It Easy released by The Sign Records 2019. Video by Filip Pilthammar. Thanks to Tove Abrahamsson for Lead vocals.

Take It Easy is the new album from Grande Royale. The album holds eleven tracks of Scandinavian rock with a strong southern influences: music that speaks the universal language of rock. The album mixes things up by adding brass, soul choirs to the guitar-filled music. Take It Easy is the fourth studio album by Grande Royale, succeeding the live album Captured Live from 2018 and the studio album Breaking News from 2017, all released by The Sign Records. Grande Royale is releasing Take It Easy on the 13th of September.

The album is produced by Ola Ersfjord, who has previously worked with Imperial State Electric, Honeymoon Disease, Primordial, Tribulation and Dead Lord. Since the release of their previous studio album Breaking News, guitarist Gustav Wremer has taken over vocal duties in the band. Vocalist Tove Abrahamsson appears on two tracks. The album artwork is made by Revolver Design.

Live Dates:
26/9 – Burgerweeshuis, Deventer, Netherlands *
27/9 – Muziekcentrum De Bosuil, Netherlands *
28/9 – Sonic Ballroom, Köln, Germany *
29/9 – Lola, Groningen, Netherlands *
* With The Dirty Denims

More live dates are set to be announced in Spain, Italy, Germany, Finland and Sweden among others….

Grande Royale is:
Andreas Jenå – Guitar
Gustav Wremer – Guitar / Vocals
Johan Häll – Drums
Samuel Georgsson – Bass

Grande Royale on Thee Facebooks

Grande Royale at The Sign Records Bandcamp

The Sign Records website

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records webstore

[Click play above to stream Breaking News by Grande Royale. Album is out Friday, Aug. 25, via The Sign Records.]

Whatever one’s associations with the phrase they’ve chosen as the title for their third album, Breaking News, that’s not Grande Royale‘s fault. Chances are the Jönköping-based heavy rockers had some motivation in mind behind the choice, but without knowing the media climate in their native Sweden, I can only go by the lyrical content of the 10-track/34-minute The Sign Records long-player, including the title-track and catchy toe-tappers like “Brake Light,” “Got to Move,” “Devil’s Place” and closer “I’m on the Loose,” and note it doesn’t seem to be a commentary either on the media or the greater sociopolitical sphere. That’s something of a relief coming from the five-piece of guitarists Gustav Wremer and Andreas Jenå, vocalist Hampus Steenberg, bassist Calle Ljungström and drummer Mackey Gustafsson, who worked with producer Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters, Entombed, Death Breath, etc.) to instead evoke the positive, warm and bordering-on-wholesome Thin Lizzy-esque bounce of “Live with Your Lie” and classic rockers like the low-end-driven “One Second” and proto-motoring “R’N’R Business.”

Front to back across the offering, which follows Grande Royale‘s self-released 2014 debut, Cygne Noir, and the 2015 follow-up, No Fuss – A Piece by Resolute Men, the band basks in a classic heavy rock sunshine and analog depth, leaving no room for pretense when it comes to bringing forth ’70s influences as filtered through more modern garage push. Yes, The Hellacopters are a factor in their sound, but the harmonies in the four-minute “Daily Illustration” and in the hook of the suitably thrusting “Got to Move” add an individualized edge to the proceedings, and the overarching impression of Breaking News — again, despite any tragic or otherwise unfortunate connotations the words “breaking news” might convey — is so inviting and friendly to the ear that the listener is more inclined to embrace familiar aspects than be caught up in feelings of redundancy. In this way, Grande Royale effectively interpret ’70s, ’90s and ’10s rock without losing themselves in a mire of aping any one band’s sound in particular.

There’s not much mystery as to how the feat is accomplished: it’s the songwriting. I won’t take away from the natural sound Andersson‘s production brings to Jenå and Wremer‘s guitars or from Steenberg‘s crisp delivery throughout on vocals. Indeed, though the roots of their style are more toward the modern/organic than the we-only-use-amps-from-1970 vintage worship — which is expensive, time-consuming and often difficult in terms of repairing busted gear — the balance of that naturalism with the tightness of their craft is perhaps what most of all dogwhistles Grande Royale‘s three albums’ worth of experience. Otherwise, with the plays between swing and urgency among cuts like “Devil’s Place” and “One Second” — shifts in tempo and push handled fluidly by Ljungström and Gustafsson — might find the band losing their grip in a way detracting from the memorability overall, but as it stands, Breaking News makes easy transitions between 7″-worthy cuts and thereby sets up a classic-feeling full-length flow that holds on loosely for the duration and steers its audience with a subtle but firm guiding hand.

Not that they make the journey especially difficult, either. From the opening come-on-let’s-go shove of “Know it All” through the more Southern-style organ flourish of finale “I’m on the Loose” — some Thin Lizzy again, maybe via Skynyrd — Breaking News holds onto its aural optimism, and whether it’s the channel-swapping interplay of start-stop riffs in the verses of the title-track all the while underscored by a steady bass and drum progression or the efficient mid-paced execution of “R’N’R Business,” it does so finding consistency of mood doesn’t need to necessarily come with a repetition of sonic ideas. This also relates to the quality of songcraft, but Grande Royale are able to carry through this vibe with chemistry between them and a variety of the basic impression each inclusion makes. The whole thing is even, balanced, smooth, but not at all falling into the trap of dullness to which those things might lead. There’s still an energy here in terms of the root performance.

I don’t know whether or not Grande Royale recorded Breaking News live in full, in part or at all, but the vitality they bring to their pieces would seem to have its foundation in stage-work one way or another, and the album benefits tremendously from that when it comes to tying the songs together and honing the momentum that moves from one into the next. Part of that stems as well from the fact that Breaking News, whether it’s in the individual tracks or the entirety built from them, doesn’t stick around long enough to wear out its welcome. Were it 50 minutes long instead of the tidy, ultra-manageable 34 that it is, that might not be the case, but even this correct editorial decision on the part of the band — knowing how much is enough — is a facet of their aesthetic worth appreciating, and like the clear-headedness of their verse/chorus structures, it speaks to the depth of consciousness beneath what on the surface is such an outgoing execution. That is, none of this is happening by mistake, on any level.

Rather, as one would hope for a third LP, Breaking News finds Grande Royale well in command of their style and sounding fully aware of who they are and who they want to be as a band. The tracks, while not necessarily reinventing classic heavy rock in their construction, are nonetheless refreshing for the sincerity of the group’s approach and the obvious value they place on attention to detail. As they also largely avoid the heavy ’10s boogie rock that has so largely affected the broader European underground, and as they avoid the woeful associations their choice of title could bring forth on the part of their listeners, it becomes even clearer that Breaking News is the work of professional-grade songwriters and that it is all the stronger for that. In other words: Don’t worry. It’s good news.

Grande Royale on Thee Facebooks

Grande Royale at The Sign Records Bandcamp

The Sign Records website

The Sign Records on Thee Facebooks

The Sign Records webstore