One Hundred Percent Strong starts off quite enjoyable – gutsy and noisy, similar to Pulled Apart by Horses, loud enough that it jars nicely against the saturation of jangly guitars and acoustics that are about nowadays. The more you listen to the EP, however, the harder to listen to it becomes. In the space of a mere four songs, it goes from being almost interesting to kind of boring.
The opener, Get Well Soon is a really strong track. It’s fun and noisy and easily the best track there is to offer on this EP. It has a very familiar feel to it – kind of like really early Say Anything vocally but grungy in terms of it’s musical feel. The chorus is great, with falsetto vocals standing out against a shouty verse without it sounding out of place in any way.
With such a strong opener, it’s definitely annoying that the EP doesn’t seem to offer anything new in the following tracks. Shady Nasty is similar in terms of it’s chorus, but it sounds like a bit of a repeat of Get Well Soon. The songs are so alike, they barely stand apart from one another.
If the first half of the EP barely stands apart as two separate songs, then the final two tracks – SWARM and Death in Disco Shoes – may as well be merged into one. They’re kind of repetitive, and, by this point, the sheer noise of the EP has become one long, dissonant song. Where the choruses are a bit melodic and, therefore, give the songs a bit of a break in the pace for a while, these final two songs are, honestly a bit much.
It’s a shame that this EP doesn’t seem to fully showcase what this band has to offer. A great live band, One Hundred Percent Strong doesn’t feel like it does them much justice. If the opening track is anything to go by, however, they’re worth keeping an eye on.
5/10
Standout Track: Get Well Soon
For Fans Of: Pulled Apart by Horses
Written by: Emily Laws
