Single Review: Duran Duran – ‘Pressure Off’

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Published On July 6, 2015 | By Jamie Parmenter | Music, Singles & EP's

The 80s legends return with new single Pressure Off, but lets face it, they’ve never really been away have they? To be honest, this is the perfect time for them to get some new music out there, with the fact that many new bands sound more 80s than many actual 80s bands these days. But does Simon Le Bon and the boys manage to teach these new bands a lesson?

The track starts off as something you might not expect – funky sounds and plinky guitars playing a big part in the intro. But then the synths kick in, and you’re in comfortable Duran Duran territory but with an updated feel – the synths for one sound much crisper and delicate than earlier work.

Le Bon’s vocals are on form as always, with age seeming to be an undetermined factor on how well he can sing. Lyrics seem a little bleak at first, with Le Bon speaking of ‘swimming with the rat race, running against the tide’, but then the chorus kicks in with all the grandeur of earlier work, raising up the spirits. It’s a master class for all the 80s wannabes out there of how to use a chorus to lift a song, with sounds tailored to perfection and all wrapped up in melodic loveliness.

Pressure Off ironically puts the pressure on for musicians trying to recreate that 80s sound. Having made some of their best music in that era, Duran Duran perform here what mere imitators can’t, by creating something that is genuinely fun to listen to and with deeper levels that make the track interesting.

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Courtesy Renowned for Sound