REVIEW: REPAIRS - 'REPEAT, REPEAT' LP

R E V I E W
REPAIRS – REPEAT, REPEAT LP
By Arpie Shirehorse

Tāmaki Makaurau three-piece REPAIRS have just released their debut LP ‘Repeat, Repeat’ and, ladels and jellyspoons, to save you guessing where this review is heading, it is ruddy magnificent.

Kicking off with the deliciously jarring ‘Pop Song’, a semi-industrial ode to heaven-only-knows what. “I just wanted to write a pop song” repeat the band throughout, and, depending on your particular musical taste, it’s hard not to conclude anything other than ‘mission complete’.
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Tone set, the flavour continues for the next half an hour as pounding drums, angular guitars, looping basslines and the dualling vocals of Nicola Edwards and Martin Phillips flood over you for another 13 tracks of mildly dystopian post-punk.

It's a thrilling ride and is very much a sound of its time. In fact, if 'Repeat, Repeat' was a stick of rock, it would have 2 0 2 0 emblazoned solidly through its candy core. The highlights are many – personal favourites are ‘Cut to the Chase’, (not a song about having a trim to a popular gameshow, alas), the simmering ‘Slow Centre’ and perhaps the most ‘pop’ of songs on the LP, ‘Thanks for the Advice’ one minute and thirty-three seconds of perfectly-paced, um, perfection.
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​Seriously, I don’t know what else you want from a song in this day and age. It’s perfect accompaniment to pretty much any activity – running, hanging out washing, chopping onions, (careful now), or shouting in the face of a mask-avoiding conspiracy theorist. The other thing to mention is this - not only is ‘Repeat, Repeat’ a collection of fourteen fantastic songs, but the whole body of work is a beautiful thing in its own right - a delicately placed, powerful slap in the chops followed by the biggest hug you've ever had. Buy it now, get the words and riffs stuck in your head, then go see them slay at a venue near you ASAP.