With ‘rock’ creeping up on lame indie and giving it a well-deserved kick up the arse, one result is that there are a lot of bands around doing, well, what Bathgate trio Flip Banshee are doing. That is, making noisy, stop-start, vaguely emo-ish tunes.
Happily, quality will out, and despite the band wearing their influences on their sleeves a little – read (early) Biffy, Weezer, and peraps the new guard of thickly-accented Scots like Frightened Rabbit. However, the sound – loud-quiet, angsty, yes – is crisp, energetic, and distinctive by sheer dint of some top-notch songwriting. ‘For You’ is the pick of the bunch – “sometimes I get scared that I might slip away” is emotionally-delivered without ever getting overwrought.
‘I’m a Philosopher, I’m Often Cynic’ is musically the most fun, all chunky bass breaks and percussive drumming, and a guitar solo that bounces along like a bedsit Big Country. ‘What’ve We Become’ is a glorious singalong count-in to what may be the band’s tour de force – just a little rough arond the edges, not quite slick enough for Matt Cardle to cover. Thank goodness.
There’s even a ‘slow-burner’ in ‘Forever After’, somewhere between Pavement and Snow Patrol – put simply, it, like the rest of the EP, has got tunes AND cred, in spades.
http://flipbanshee.bandcamp.com
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