November 28, 2012 • Ex Novo Collective
No matter how much (or little) you are into a particular genre (or, heck, music in general), at no point should you stop and think to yourself, "Well, I have a couple of records I really like; seems like a pretty good canon, might as well stop here." Because you'll always be wrong.
Case in point: Topbunk's Springlake Pharmacy, which I was expecting to be just another nondescript amateur emo album. Well, it is a bit amateur, but really, isn't that true of all truly good emo? The band's sound leans a bit toward the indie-garage rock sound of bands like Japandroids, with strained vocals, gritty production, and simple arrangements. Of course, it's the songwriting which skyrockets Topbunk near the top of my list; even with such simple melodies (which can be considered maybe a bit cliché at this point), the band pulls it off really well. And even though the singer's voice cracks often, guitars are sometimes sloppily played, etc., it all gives the EP that charm it needs to still succeed.
Okay so maybe it's a bit of a niche release, and a lot of what I'm saying really is just stuff that appeals to me personally (well, obviously). But this band shows a lot of promise if they can keep up the momentum, and I'm happy to have discovered yet another modern emo band I can enjoy as much as I do.
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