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The Scene Aesthetic

The Days Ahead EP

Written by: TL on 10/05/2012 13:35:03

Right guys, I'm spending the day at home duelling the flu, meaning that the only constructive thing to do is get some reviews done with. My first effort is a seven track EP called "The Days Ahead" released in December by Seattle emo-pop duo The Scene Aesthetic, and if that genre label has you reaching for your hahgay.com urls immediately, then rest assured you're right to do so, because these guys' sound is admittedly found somewhere in between areas I'd designate as 'boy band', 'myspace emo' and 'disney pop'.

Comparing the primarily acoustic guitar-driven pop songs of The Scene Aesthetic - whose real names are Andrew De Torres (of Danger Radio fame) and Eric Bowley - to similar bands like Cute Is What We Aim For and Never Shout Never is a no brainer then, and hell, I've even heard some songs from them previously that could borderline justify referencing the likes of Panic! At The Disco, The Rocket Summer and even Mae. The problem with "The Days Ahead EP" is that none of those highlights of the band's abilities are found on here. In fact, the word "highlight" is not one that has really come to mind during my back to back repeats of the EP this morning. The thoughts going through my head have been more along the lines of "oh sweet Lord isn't this sticky, sugary stuff going to end soon?" - It's not that Bowley and De Torres aren't proficient with their acoustics, their harmonies and their call/response arrangements, nor that their production doesn't have a certain texture to it, it's more the fact that their entire sound is permeated by shallow sentimentality that will make you feel like you're suffocating in a cloud of candyfloss.

There's nothing wrong with sentimentality and romanticism in music, but if life was like a Scene Aesthetic song, everything would be pink and fluffy all the time, and everyone would have a My Little Pony stabled outside their horses for transportation. This stylistical choice of the band's means that if you're a female in your early teens and still waiting to experience your first fling, you will probably eat up every second with wide and watery eyes. If you're anyone else however, you will likely struggle to prevent your attention from fleeing elsewhere whenever "The Days Ahead EP" is playing, because while The Scene Aesthetic have written at least a few songs that have seemed relatively enjoyable to me, none of them - as I said before - are present here. "The Days Ahead" sounds like filler-quality, pointless, forgetable emo-pop nonsense, and frankly I'm regretting every second I've been wasting trying to describe it for you.

Download: A Little Bit More
For The Fans Of: Cute Is What We Aim For, Never Shout Never, The Rocket Summer
Listen: facebook.com/thesceneaesthetic

Release Date 06.12.2011
Self-released