Lily Allen. Katie Perry. Sabrina Carpenter. And now Foley, from right here in Aotearoa. Pop at the highest level of professionalism and quality.

Foley is duo Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett. New single Cinematic is out now, and I have to confess I am glad to have been introduced to them. We’ve got an irresistibly catchy and commercially viable dance-pop number here, led by some great keys and a driving yet subtle drum section. The balance achieved by producer Josh Naley (Wells himself) with the knob twiddling prowess of esteemed mixing engineer Pedro Calloni and mastering by Grammy-winner Nathan Dantzler, puts the coup de gras on your ears and signs it up as a guaranteed radio hit.

Vocally strong, a crystal clear soprano delivers a genuine ear worm of a melody. It’s a winner, that’s all I can say. For what the messages are behind the lyrics, I’ll do my usual and directly quote from the EPK so the words belong to the artist:

“‘Cinematic’ is about a love so beautiful and promising that you feel like it may not be real – at the start of a relationship the glow around a person can be so overwhelming and you find yourself romanticising everything,” says the band.We reference Titanic, Casablanca, Interstellar and there are countless other movie related lines that were hilarious. We got quite giddy thinking up more and more ridiculous lines.”

The track can be found on forthcoming EP Like An Actress, due for release on 25th February. I’ve listed some names you can relate to with regard to the genre of this number, but you really need to hear it. It’s a cute, sweet number without turning into cloying or saccharine overload. The lyrics go a long way to keeping the enjoyment factor going, and help turn this into a whimsical celebration, in fact.

Check out the vid on YouTube. I’ll not spoil it, but the opening line of the song is effectively setting the stage for the whole visual piece. The band has a great time filming: you can not possibly miss that. It’s great, just how I like vids to be. Uncluttered but visually pleasing and entertaining. Lighting and choreography works well here.

Foley is undoubtedly a name you’re going to keep hearing. This is an act that means it, and Cinematic is proof enough that they have the chops to deliver. Great work.