The New Up

Gold EP

Written by: DR on 19/12/2010 22:27:57

The New Up certainly think highly of themselves, or whoever wrote their "press release" does. Throughout all of the superlatives thrown at this band, from claiming this EP to being a beautiful musical journey to claiming they're months away from taking the world by storm, details about the band are not actually mentioned. After seconds of tireless searching I have discovered that The New Up are a quintet from San Francisco, and in 2008 they set about writing a three-series set of EPs, beginning with "Broken Machine" released in 2008, then "Better Off" in 2009, and now "Gold".

A brand of garage-y indie rock is on offer, which is surprisingly original as I'm struggling to pin-point bands of a similar ilk. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's meets The Pixies is about the best I can do, but it's not a bad comparison to come up with. Their sound is centred around lo-fi, fuzzy guitars and a sluggish, lofty vocal performance courtesy of front-woman ES Pitcher who is careful not to inject too much energy into or seem as though she's trying too hard. In opening song "Gold" they have it down well; it's laid back, the lyrics keep to a tight rhyming structure and never make you think too much, it's almost relaxing to listen to. Following track "Daydream" gives guitarist Noah Reid to flaunt his voice. He offers a nice contrast to the female vocals, but his voice is ultimately too monotonous and disengaging, which then becomes the story of the EP.

I get that The New Up are going for the whole "let's not seem like we're trying too hard" brand of indie, but some songs suffer from that lack of energy; "See Yourself" instantly springs to mind. Plus, the musicianship isn't quite 'there' yet either, so if the vocals aren't keeping you interested the musicianship is unlikey to, too. Furthermore, the tracks don't possess a great deal of staying power, I don't feel the urge to go back to this EP, which is largely down to how un-catchy it is. Opening song "Gold" is very decent and makes me believe that this band have could be on to something in the future; is that not the point of an EP? For a young band to try and figure out just what that is?

Download: Gold
For The Fans of: The Pixies meets The Yeah Yeah Yeah's
Listen: Myspace

Release Date 2610.2010
Evil Cherise

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.