Robyn Writes

Review: Magic Eight Ball – Sorry We’re Late, But We’re Worth The Wait

I’ll admit, when the Magic Eight Ball record crossed my virtual desk, I was a little bit dismissive. For a start, whenever anything’s described as “power-pop”, I feel a bit queasy inside. The cover didn’t look as slick as the other records that’d passed through my inbox, all with big text logos and stock photography artwork. And I hadn’t checked out the video in the email, because I like to be surprised. It’s safe to say that upon hitting ‘play’, I was utterly and completely taken aback, because Sorry We’re Late, But We’re Worth The Wait is an absolute banger of a record.

The Surrey trio, who didn’t get around to putting this out for about six years after their inception, are highly accomplished musicians with a knack for killer harmonies and big rock ballads. Not that there isn’t plenty of stuff to make you want to dance, but it’s the ballad-esque epics that truly showcase just how great these guys are. Tracks like ‘Big Star’, ‘Before It Was Murder (You Got Me Talking)’ are massive tunes, with bouncy rhythms, big pop hooks and pure rock ‘n roll bravado. There’s lots of tongue-in-cheek moments, like in final track ‘Local Girls’, with its classical picking, violin, and lyrics about how it’s hard to find a decent girl in their town. But then there’s tracks like ‘Love Makes You Do Some Funny Things’ that are totally from the heart, and are guaranteed to put a huge grin on your face.

As much as I hate to say it, power-pop is the right way to put it; and Magic Eight Ball aren’t afraid to embrace that. The songs are fairly simple in structure, but this works in Magic Eight Ball’s favour, and the cheeky ‘ahh ahh!’s throughout are absolutely sublime. Lots of bands try to overcomplicate their output, but there’s a great virtue in taking a step back and just concentrating on putting out songs that are genuinely fantastic.

For those of you that are feeling a certain void since Bowling For Soup called it quits, this record is for you. It’s also for you if you like great harmonies, sweet guitar solos and vocals that could melt butter. Get in.

4 out of 5 high fives!

Review: Mark McCabe – A Good Way To Bury Bad News

Mark McCabe‘s second record, released earlier this week, is the sort of album that you take with you when you go for long walks with the dog in the bracing wind and you want to feel a little bit sad. A melancholic and mostly acoustic affair, A Good Way To Bury Bad News is profound and lovely, yet totally accessible, and resonates with all of the times you’ve ever hidden under the duvet while providing a glimmer of hope through the end of it all.

A Good Way To Bury Bad News is an album of contradictions. McCabe’s songwriting style is intricate, and yet simple. The subjects of the songs are sad, but at the same time, each track tends to have an uplifting moment. McCabe’s lyrics are honest and raw throughout, a trick perhaps picked up through his association with the punk scene rather than the “new-folk” scene, and often, surprisingly witty. There are stories about clinical depression, relationships that fail due to geographical affinity, and tales of growing up. The record is filled with subtleties, from the quiet cymbals in ‘Easy For Me To Say’ to the slide guitar in ‘Crutches’, but it’s also loud and proud when it wants to be, featuring beautiful strings throughout that rise and fall perfectly with McCabe’s soft Scottish tones. For the most part, it all seems to flow nicely until it reaches the end – ‘My Disguise Is Better Than Yours’, ending on a wonderfully optimistic note, would have been better suited to the final track rather than ‘Join The Crowd, but this is neither here nor there. It just simply is, and that’s a feeling that carries on all the way through the record.

I’ll be honest, if you’re feeling fragile, this might not be the record for you. But otherwise, McCabe has a grasp on human emotion that is very rarely paralleled in this kind of genre. As frank as Elliott Smith and with far less pretension than Frank Turner, A Good Way To Bury Bad News is a beautiful and moving record.

4 out of 5 high fives!

Review: Moving Brooklyn – Intervals [EP]

Moving Brooklyn seem like nice chaps. When you click onto their Facebook page, their header picture features them, being all smiley and flannel-shirted. Muted colours are abound throughout the bits of Facebook that you can customise, they list Celine Dion and cats (and dogs, because it’s unfair to discriminate) as their interests, and it all feels nice and cosy and safe.

Intervals is a very safe record, one that doesn’t take any big leaps or jumps into the stratosphere. Instead, it sticks to what it knows: pop-punk styled guitar picking, lyrics about pretty much nothing and the occasional, very tame, gang vocal section. And it does this for six whole tracks. It’s not that the record is bad – Moving Brooklyn can obviously play music – it just all sounds very similar. Moving Brooklyn also list their influences on their Facebook, and you can hear it all spilling out in there, just lacking the edge which made those influences great in the first place. Anberlin, Northstar, Taking Back Sunday… it’s all in Intervals, but it just doesn’t reach the lofty heights of those bands. Moving Brooklyn might have the potential to, but they need to take more risks.

The slick production of the EP doesn’t necessarily do them any favours either. Each song blends into one another with very little distinction. The only song that sounds vaguely different is closing track ‘Good Thing I’ve Learned’, which decides to step away from sunshine rhythms and instead, tries out a few minor chords. The verses feel like they’re building up to something, but as soon as the chorus comes back, it’s back to the same old, same old.

If I could describe Intervals in one word, it’d be “nice”. But sadly, nice just doesn’t cut it. Easily forgettable, Intervals bobs along in a sea of similar records, clutching onto its rubber ring and waving timidly at the shore.

2.5 out of 5 high fives!

A Will Away – lyrical interpretations

After posting this review, Matt from A Will Away got in touch with me to talk about some of the lyrical themes present in the EP, which has definitely affected my interpretation for the better. He took the time to explain to me the concept behind the EP and the process of writing it, which sparked a really great discussion about different perspectives. I asked for his permission to share the below explanation, which is part of his initial email discussing Cold Weather:

I decided to shoot you a quick email to thank you for writing a review of Cold Weather and also to thank you for giving me a new perspective on how people might view the record. Cold Weather is called Cold Weather because we consider the climate to be a lot of what makes us who we are here in New England.

The idea of being a product of one’s environment is one that we carry with us (see our 2012 Full-Length Product of Your Environment) but on Cold Weather I made the decision to write songs from the perspective of the people who raised us and the people we love. Stepping into another person’s shoes as the protagonist for each song was a very different lyrical style than I’ve ever taken on in the past and I was very curious to see how people would receive it. I’m extremely glad that the first four tracks of the record landed well with you.

The Masochist’s Daughter is a song written from the perspective of two people that have been very large parts of my own life who’s marriages were plagued by infidelity. People who never had the strength to properly stand up for themselves and continue to this day to be in unhappy and unhealthy marriages. I attempted to capture the internal fury of being a spouse who is tied in life and love to a person who they could no longer trust or respect. I attempted to stand up for people with words who were too weak to do so for themselves with their actions.

Knowing that I likely won’t change your opinion on the track regardless I at least wanted to make sure that you didn’t see me as a misogynist. The weight of that song is a pain I feel every time I sing it – an ache for some people that I love in the same way that the rest of the record has created an emotional bond between myself and the protagonists I chose to write about.

In a music scene plagued by white teenagers whining about their problems I can completely understand writing me off as one of them because of the language and tone used in that track. I tried to tackle a lot of my thoughts, philosophies and opinions in 5 songs and it seems that in some way I fell short of my goal with that song despite its popularity.

I’m really glad that Matt got in touch, and I really commend his ambition in writing a record from so many different perspectives. While the track is still not my favourite on the record, it has changed how I think about it, and it’s made me appreciate the other tracks even more. Check out Cold Weather for yourself at Giant MKT’s Bandcamp.

Review: A Will Away – Cold Weather [EP]

After posting this review, Matt from A Will Away got in touch with me to talk about some of the lyrical themes present in the EP, which has definitely affected my interpretation for the better. Please check out his side of the story here.

A Will Away are a pop-punk band from Connecticut, and Cold Weather is their new EP. Have we got that in mind, fact fans? Good. It’s their first release with Giant MKT, and well, its name certainly lives up to what’s happening outside, but not necessarily on the EP. For the most part, Cold Weather is a warm, sunny affair with beautiful, guitar-driven hooks.

The first four tracks on the EP are outstanding. No, seriously. Matt Carlson’s vocals are full of emotion, with some fantastic little quirks, the rhythm section keeps everything perfect and the guitar goes so much deeper than your average band in this scene right now. It’s uplifting, extremely-self aware and impassioned. ‘Carousel’, the EP’s opener, starts out swinging with some great drums. ‘True North’ is perfectly polished, with mystical, jangly guitar and poignant reflections on faith. There are choruses that pack a proper punch, outros that leave you hanging on for more.

And then, as it leads into ‘The Masochist’s Daughter’, it all goes a bit south.

It’s not all about the lyrics. I promise, it’s not. In fact, were I to listen to this EP without that song, I’d probably give it full marks. It’s bouncy and fun, with loads of playful riffs, but with a deeper understanding of melody. However, there are plenty of bands out there who sing about heartbreak, unrequited love and betrayal without sounding like total douchebags – we aren’t in the grip of 2003’s “new-wave emo” any more. Ladies do crappy stuff too – I am one, I know. But there’s these sly little moments, or outright in ‘The Masochist’s Daughter’, where Cold Weather feels like an attack, like a Cute Is What We Aim For-style sneer on girls everywhere. And that makes me feel uncomfortable. And I know this band is better than that.

So ignore ‘The Masochist’s Daughter’. Rewind to the good stuff about living well. Listen to the guitars and enjoy pure pop-punk joy.

3.5 out of 5 high fives!