Words fall short of instrumental glory

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Is it acceptable to completely dislike a song’s lyrics, but think their instrumentals are amazing?

If I could remove all the words from “Lovin’ is Bible” by the Aces, I would think it was great. The Aces released the song Friday, and honestly, I wish they wouldn’t have ruined it with their lyrics.

The song begins with very modern electronic beats and it sounds like just your average pop song, however, once the electric guitar is introduced, the sound instantly changes.

The drums and multiple string instruments join in to give a retro sound as if it was created for vinyl. It reminds me a little bit of Walk the Moon’s sound, but with a touch of 80’s girl punk band. Add two swishes of electronic modern pop and that pretty much comprises the song.

With that being said, the greatness the song could have achieved is dampened by the cliché and mediocre lyrics. The song tries to keep the theme of love being equivalent to religion, starting the song with the words “You know I’m not religious but, you’re lovin’ is Bible.” The song then references to this theme two more times when the singer says she will be her lover’s “disciple” and that he is the only one who can “save her.”

A few other mentions are made such as her lover’s “holy place” and that she can “confess her secrets” to him. Otherwise, in the chorus and in much of the stanzas, no mention is made of this so-called theme.

The phrase of “painting their love all over town” and “watching it go viral” seems random and out of place. It is such a modern concept and it doesn’t fit with the sacrilegious theme they are trying to achieve. I would argue that the song would have been better had they not tried for the religion theme.

In order to make it work, they needed to own the theme and they hardly try for it. It seems like the Bible and paradox religion thing is just sloppily thrown in because they liked the way the title sounded and tried to create a song around that.

Yet, I want to end this review on a good note, and so I will end with the instrumentals. The guitar work after their words “making me feel like I could go crazy” is what makes the whole song worth it. Seriously, it is worth listening to just for that.

3 out of 5 stars (3 / 5)