One thing that I always loved doing when Randon's Reviews was on Tumblr (don't judge) was recommending the works of some of my favourite music journalists, and I wanted to bring that back a bit today to introduce this review. I read an article online the other day by Ryan De Freitas, a wicked writer who I feel proud to be working alongside for Upset magazine, about how the 'emo revival' scene of late is now way past the point of being a revival, and how some bands from that scene (Modern Baseball, The World Is A Beautiful Place..., Into It. Over It., etc.) are starting to stand on their own merits. I'll leave the following quote below to give you a taster of the article, which you can and should read HERE:
"FOR MANY, THE MAIN COMPLAINT REGARDING THE 'REVIVAL' TAG WAS THAT IT SUGGESTED EPHEMERALITY; THAT THIS WAS MERELY ANOTHER FAD FOR CRITICS TO ROLL THEIR EYES AT. NOW AT THE START OF 2016, ( ... ) THOSE COMPLAINTS ARE PROVING MORE VALID THAN EVER. BECAUSE IT WASN'T A FAD. IT WAS THE RESULT OF HARDWORKING BANDS THAT SHARED INFLUENCES FINDING BOTH EACH OTHER AND A FANBASE."
To a degree, I feel like the same sentiments can also be applied to the 'grunge revival' that's been making waves lately, but in this case it's so important to distinguish the lackadaisical from the lethargic. The sounds and ideals of grunge needs to be revisited with a bit more craft and inventiveness than just plugging your Fender Jaguar into a bunch of distortion and modulation pedals (NB: I'm not a guitar geek). I'll quote another great journalist, Rock Sound's Gav Lloyd in his review of Milk Teeth's Vile Child, to accentuate my point: "WEARING A CARDIGAN DOES NOT MAKE YOU KURT COBAIN." *
* I'm paraphrasing here because I can't find my copy of the review, but that quote really stuck with me so I think I got it right. Sorry to Gav if I misquoted him (please don't sue).
RAIN are a shining example of a new British band that are bringing those nostalgic vibes of 90's alt-rock back to the fore, but also join bands like Title Fight and Hindsights in taking it to stratospheric new levels. Put simply, their debut EP, SYMPHONY PAINS, is bedroom-demo shoegaze being played on an arena-rock scale-- Actually, I'm not even sure if it's on the fucking scale. It sounds MASSIVE.
While you may think that the sort of sounds being dealt out by bands of this ilk belongs in dive bars and house shows, Rain have harnessed the all-conquering ethos of 90s britpop to take their melodies to a sonically higher place. All you need to do is listen to the first 7 seconds of opening track 'Slur', and you will realise that this is more than just simple chords and psychedelic guitar tones. In fact, let me try and give you an exact recap of the first time I listened to 'Slur':
00.00.01: "OKAY, SOME PRETTY RETRO VIBES COMING OFF OF THIS, NOT BAD, I LIKE THAT GUITAR TONE, ETC."
00.00.06: "WHAT THE FUCK?! HOLY SHIT, THIS IS HUGE! WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON RIGHT NOW? IS THIS HEAVEN?"
Maybe I exaggerated on that bit about heaven, but you catch my drift, and that's just the first 7 seconds of the song. You just wait until you hear the other 5 minutes and 36 seconds .of it: there's choruses which you would struggle to describe as anything other than 'cataclysmic', and ethereal vocal harmonies in the verses to keep you mellow and safe from a full-on emo breakdown.
The fact that there's plenty of moments that evoke the same emotional response as 'Slur''s explosive opening is testament to how good Symphony Pains is. 'Slur' is undeniably the 'big hitter' that rings with eye-watering clarity, but over the course of the EP's 15 minutes, you are met with euphoric, luscious melodies as they spiral upward towards warm, washed-out hooks and shit-kicking drums, all the way through to 'Dandelion''s devastating conclusion.
It would take some bands a whole album to sound as epic as Rain do in just three tracks. The fact that the band have already paid another visit to the recording studio between the recording and release of Symphony Pains means that it's an extremely promising start for Rain, as they join the growing list of bands breaking through the cursed mould of the revivalist scene.
TOP TRACKS: 'SLUR'; 'INDIGO IN BLUE'
RR RATING:
SYMPHONY PAINS IS OUT NOW ON CLOSE TO HOME RECORDS. STREAM THE EP ON SPOTIFY BELOW:
P.S. I know I ended up incoherently dribbling about this EP at certain points in its review, and I'm not apologetic of that at all because that's how I wanted my style on this blog to be in the first place, but if you want to read some of my proper writing, you can grab the next issue of Upset magazine from Friday (March 4th), which features my review of Neck Deep's recent show in London. I think I only incoherently dribbled about Creeper in that review, because why wouldn't I?
P.P.S. Thanks to everyone who helped me hit 1000 page views on this blog over the last two months. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but consider how shitty Blogger's SEO is, it's the ultimate pay-off and it means the fucking world to me.
Until next time, peace out. That's a 90s thing to say, right?
Danny
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