Tuesday 10 April 2012

EP Review on LOUD-STUFF

Read here: http://www.loud-stuff.com/trim-the-barber.html 

LOUD-STUFF.COM


Trim the Barber | Words: Dave Nicholls

Further to our review of Trim The Barber recently, they sent us through a link to their EP in full so we could hear their finished product, the below tracks being a selection of tracks which they’ve been releasing over the last year or so. As such, based on what I’d heard before, I thought it only right I see how they’d gotten on with their production of a fully fledged EP!

Occupation certainly demonstrates that this is a band who have been on a journey together, taking the tracks which they’ve produced before and throwing them all into a melting pot before crafting their final draft. Relatively simple as it grows, the track seems to build around you as the drums and guitar combine, forming a sound which borders on the atmospheric at times, but always keeps a sense of honest, real music flowing through things. Not following convention is something which seems to come naturally to the guys in the band, so it’s no wonder that this track doesn’t follow the conventions of a normal track, but as it grows it ceases to matter, all that matters is the music which you’re being treated to. Haunting and dark yet somehow uplifting and intriguing, this is one hell of an opening to an EP and suggests very good things to follow!

Autocue follows on with the idea of not doing what they’re supposed to, opening with a bass heavy sound to accompany the soft and haunting vocal line. The mix here once again seems to drag you in, crafting a sound which is going to make you question what you thought you knew about music but reassuring you that there are bands out there who are producing music the way THEY want to do it. Layered vocals, soft and hard guitar lines, pounding drums and rumbling bass – it’s all here and all works well to craft a sound which is sure to become the signature of this tightly formed unit. Digitalis on the other hand is a moment of pure genius, and probably my personal favourite track off of the EP. The sound from the off is once again firmly based around the bass, the drums and guitar effects merely serving to back up the monotone approach, forming a sound which is once again going to stay with you. Harking back to the sounds of punk combined with the likes of The Cure, the sound here is incredibly hard to pigeon hole into a genre, but at the same time I’m not sure it needs to be. It’s a good sound, one which is relaxing whilst still keeping a sense of energy flowing through it, somehow continuing to combine atmospheric with post-punk, hard with soft, and all the time keeping things moving at a pace which makes you want to get out and see them live.