Royel Otis

Royel Otis is the duo Royel Maddell, the guitarist, and Otis Pavlovic, the vocalist with shades of Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo in his delivery. Together they create catchy, danceable pop with rock accents and plenty of guitar jangle. Their music has strong throwback elements that approximate the easy flowing pop sound of mid to late '80s, with songs that are consistently melodic and earwormy in a gentle way, without being relentless about it. The band has good instincts about how far to push things, especially when it comes to their hooks, where they often reference tunes that would be familiar to most dedicated music fans, but find ways to cast them in a different light. There is also some sense of melancholy that lurks under the surface in their songs, which adds more nuance to their work.