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BANDS: Punk
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LOTD
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Full White
Drag: Everything Will Fall on One Night
EPs are a popular means of introduction for young bands these days. Being short albums, they cost less money to make and take less time to put together, allowing newcomers to get their names out while not necessarily requiring a full evolved vision on the part of the band. The downside is that EPs tend not to provide enough material or sense of direction for fans and critics to form a truly meaningful perspective on a bands promise or lack thereof, as the case may be. Everything Will Fall On One Night is the second EP by Windsor, Ontarios Full White Drag, a four-piece consisting of two guitars, bass and drums, with keys sometimes also thrown into the mix. At times they go for and to some extent achieve a Sonic Youth-esque mix of compelling, furious melodies and noisy feedback, complete with monotone spoken vocal parts that either Thurston or Kim could slip right into. Tracks one and two demonstrate this side of FWDs personality, with track two being the best song of the entire five-song set. The guitar interplay on All I See is genuinely inventive, and the drummer is far more effective here than on the preceding number, where he just sort of plodded along, not matching the energy on display from the rest of his band-mates. But by track three, the band has slipped into different clothes, with the rhythm guitarist shifting into a ska-like shuffle and the lead guitarist attempting some Edge-like harmonics. Its an unusual combination that just doesnt gel. As the song hits its chorus, the band begins to sound like one giant, muddled mass of sound. Moreover, against this backdrop, the non-dynamic vocal style is no longer effective, falling away into the morass. The lyrics take a dive here, as well, with the singer at one point repeating, This aint no dance, this aint no party, holding none of the relevance of David Byrnes This aint no disco line from almost 30 years ago. Track four finds the band in a tighter groove more akin to track two, with the band working as a unit again, but the exciting guitar interaction and attention-holding melody vs. chaos battle has ended. Truth be told, FWD never climbs fully back out of the hole they fell into on track three. The final three songs on Everything Will Fall all suffer from that familiar modern rock wall-of-power-chords syndrome, with no truly distinctive parts instrumental or vocal standing out. Perhaps the EP format is at the heart of FWDs problem here, though. I get the sense that they didnt or couldnt take the time to fully think through which post-punk path they really want to follow: the beauty-in-noise one in the vein of Sonic Youths lineage, or the other, more lumbering one followed by the emo/screamo set. The bands full-length is due out later this year, so at least we wont have to wait long to find out where FWD is headed.
This album can be purchased at Inner Flight Records Full White Drag Official Website About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
