Mindlessly flicking through social media reels and tiktoks (as the kids say) led me to see numerous videos asking the question “what does Irish emo sound like?”, or “Have you heard Irish emo?”. Personally, I could argue that the nationality of the emo doesn’t really change the tune too much… But Irish is very underrepresented in this genre. What I couldn’t argue with is that the clips that were under the rhetorical posts were polished and sounded very impressive. Later on, I found out that they were co-produced by Wonder Years guitarist Casey Cavaliere and that man can do no wrong in my book.
Then, I got the chance to hear an advance of the EP and jumped at it. Thanks to previous gig commitments, I missed the brother/sister duo play Audio in Glasgow in February which was a bit of a sore one, so this should make up for it.
When you hit play, you instantly start questioning the “emo” label that the band have given themselves. First track ‘Swing and Sway’ definitely gives off pop punk vibes that makes the elders amongst us reminisce of the first time we heard Avril Lavigne. It’s not quite as poppy as Avril and has a more mature sound than she did back then (or has had since) but has enough of the singalongs built in that it’s pretty impossible not to like it.
The second track and single ‘Antidote’ sticks with the pop punk vibes and edges more into the territory of Stand Atlantic or Hot Milk with more of a cutting edge to the sound. I’d say this puts it slightly ahead of the first track, or if you look at it this way… the EP is getting better and better already.
It’s when we hit ‘Glimmer’ where the emo labels make sense. It’s darker, angrier, and full of those long notes that we love to sing off key while alone in our rooms (you do that too…right?). Glimmer could have been a good choice as a single if they were really wanting to push the emo angle over the pop punk one.
‘Deathwish’ gets even darker than ‘Glimmer’ and we’re now in unrecognizable territory from which we began. There’s no pop punk here, only emo. Deathwish is angsty and heavier than everything that came before it. The quiet passages reek of early Paramore which explodes into a more powerful Hot Milk without all the effects. That’s one of the things you notice by this point in the EP. The production is polished and everything sounds huge, but they know where to stop with everything. There hasn’t been the need to drown the vocals in distortion or layer it to the point of being unrecognizable. It’s a powerful mix which really carries the sound that I think the band were looking to show with this release.
Final track ‘You’re My Medicine’ is climatic and a perfect way to finish this EP. If you look at it as a whole, we started off poppy and punky and have ended up at angry and angsty emo. This EP is a roller-coaster that only goes up and you’re constantly waiting for the fall but it doesn’t come. The result of that is by the time the soaring chorus of ‘You’re My Medicine’ fades out, you’re disappointed that it’s over. How dare they leave us stranded at the top of this ride!
The Antidote EP is only five tracks long, but it’s a fantastic introduction to Greywind. All I hope for is that they can get more material recorded (hopefully with the same team) before it gets stale from obviously being on repeat. I have seen that they’re going state side soon so it might be a little bit before we get a chance to see it in the flesh, but if I were at the driving seat here I’d have these guys on the road non stop. Once this EP gets released on March 15th , the iron will be hot and they need to get striking it fast! After hearing this effort, I’m definately rooting for them.
Catching Light Photography
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