risingcrisis wrote:
So the first time I listened to this EP, i'm thinking, "Alright. Carnavas was great and I can't wait to see what they built off of." Little did my ears know they were in for a special treat.
So it starts off with Comeback Kid and it is totally Silversun pickups style. Subconscious vocals, loud drum beats, guitar rifts. A little screaming towards the end, which I thought was an intriguing sound.
Around comes Kissing Families. I'm digging the beat the entire way through and loving the feel of the song. Very SSpickups like.
Booksmart Devil comes next and it's a form of slow rock with a heavy bass influence. Everything up to this point has been silversun pickups all over the place. I'm stoked to hear new music from them (even though it is actually pre-carnavas) and i'm digging the feel.
Out of NOWHERE comes The Fuzz. The first 15 seconds leave me confused and then enters some soft guitar rift with overladen bass groove and FAINT drums, very uncharacteristic of the band from their carnavas album. The lyrics are distorted, if the guitar were a person it would be really high, and the drums never take over the song. The dynamics go back and forth, loud then soft, and if i had heard this song before carnavas, I would not have believed it was the same band playing. All this to say, the experimental trip was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
So The Fuzz fades out with some distorted tone and in comes a female vocalist with Creation Lake. This song stays soft and the vocals take over the entire song, with low bass, guitar, and drums rhythmic in the background. An interesting spin coming out of The Fuzz. Two completely different directions. At this point in time, I'm wondering where Carnavas came from?
Then my question is answered with the next song ...All The Go Inbetweens. A softer, snare heavy song with another catchy guitar melody played throughout. Very silversun pickups-ish. The song builds and builds and the instruments become more confident in their portrayal of their distinctive sounds. With a few minutes left, the crescendo climaxes with some off color bridge connecting the ending distortion of voice and white noise to the earlier lyrical bliss of the song.
And they close out the set with Sci-Fi Lullaby. A softer feel with what seems to be incandescent tones playing what actually seems to be some kind of swaying lullaby in the overture of the entire track. The drums are there, but soft, and the guitar makes very soft-spoken appearances throughout with sweet little melodies. The drums start to pick up towards the end as does the guitar, which is now acoustic instead of the default electric. And the vocals stay very calm.
In Conclusion: I loved the EP. I don't know where Carnavas came from out of this. I almost consider Carnavas a step back experimentally from this EP, but it worked for them and they have a great album as a result. I hope this EP get some influences into their next album and they can break out of similar drum guitar and vocal ruts. I would love to see more songs like The Fuzz, Comeback Kid, and Booksmart Devil.
ah i think it could have been better
