James offers his favourite singles submissions from this past week. Please check out the bands, and let us know what you think via our Social Media channels!
Weep Wave – Welcome Home
Weep Wave‘s notably sleezy garage punk vibe is wedged together with a blitz of surf rock that really sounds like it shouldn’t work well on paper. Coupled with a disorientating, psychedelic edge and an acoustic interlude that comes out of nowhere, Welcome Home just about has it all. Using the word ‘unique’ to describe a band these days is a rarity, but Weep Wave might have just managed it by slinging together a bunch of influences that mean something to them, creating a track in Welcome Home that’s wonderfully worthwhile.
American Spirits – Cicada
Shamefully, I sometimes stick a middle finger at Pop-Punk bands that drop any sense of distortion and replace it a style that’s much more light and breezy. But I really liked the melancholic edge of American Spirits, providing a softer feel to the likes of punk rockers The Dirty Nil and PUP while still managing to maintain the pace that so many bands within the genre are famous for. Short but sweet, Cicada is for the kids that grew up on the debut American Football album and spent the supposed best years of their lives feeling rather solemn, in the best way possible I may add!
Pretty Vicious – Are You Entertained?
Pretty Vicious are back on our favourite singles of the week feature, with the indie-meets-punk UK rockers doing brilliantly to grow their already blossoming identity. Are You Entertained? follows in similar fashion to their last single Move, which we covered a few months back. It’s packed with enough accessible rock appeal for the mainstream audiences, but vocally and instrumentally it never sacrifices it’s bark or bite. Get on these guys while they’re still small, something special is beckoning for Pretty Vicious.
What If When We Die, We Scatter? – The Downward Spiral Of The Unquiet Mind
Where to start with this one? The Downward Spiral Of The Unquiet Mind (excuse the mouthful) is a delicate post-rock masterpiece! What I loved most about this track is that it’s beautifully contemporary in it’s progressive edge and has nods to modern artists such as Arcane Roots. But it’s influences are often rooted deep in 90’s Smashing Pumpkins and a hazy, fuzzy production. The layering of vocal styles has emerged as my favourite part of What If When We Die, We Scatter?’s sound, and I’m looking forward to hearing more in future. This track is released 3rd November 2018, so not long at all! Keep your eyes and ears peeled for it!
That’s this weeks singles reviews, please feel free to check out the tracks above on the usual formats, or alternatively you can access them on our embedded Spotify playlists below. Thanks for reading!
