Fly This For Me

Making Shadows EP

Written by: TL on 24/10/2012 17:02:56

The third band on my menu today is Fly This For Me, another young group from England, specifically Guildford, and these four lads+one girl are also bidding for your attention with a debut EP, theirs being called "Making Shadows EP" and containing four tracks for you to sample at your convenience. Me, I wouldn't be writing this if I hadn't already sampled them of course, and I think the best way to explain what FTFM are about is to just go ahead and liken their approach to that of fellow Brits The Blackout and The First: Like those bands, FTFM are about rocking and rolling with unrelenting energy, tempo and conviction and without even thinking of looking back.

So while opener "She Said" might not resonate entirely with that assessment due to it being merely ordinarily up-beat, the two middle tracks on the EP - "We All Fall" and title track "Making Shadows" - soon come around with fast-paced rhythms and ballsy riffage that just thunders down the highway while singer Tim Cowen puts in a spirited, youthful and occasionally strained vocal performance that, while it might not get him to the finals in X-factor, should leave you with no doubts about his conviction or whether or not he wants you to sing along in a live environment.

It's a simple approach really, just aiming to produce the most energetic sound at any given moment, but it's one that has worked countless times and it works here as well. "We All Fall" is sweeping in its stomping chorus and when "Making Shadows" come around with the rise from understated verse to all-out chorus, complete with efficient backing vocals underscoring the hookline, it's just a solid example of what you can do when you follow the rules of modern rock'n'roll dynamics and it's even pretty catchy as well.

Of course, listening to especially the gang vocals that make a brief appearance towards the end of the song, it's hard to not be reminded of the first The Blackout album and consider how debatable that band's success has been over their years of recycling exactly this approach. It just works best live, and while you get a boost listening to it on record as well, there's hardly much depth to the experience to lure you back later on. And while there's not exactly a lot of variation to speak of on "Making Shadows EP", even with the little there is it seems like FTFM are the most effective when they stay true to the formula and go as fast and electrifying as possible.

In honest though, the band is quite convincing when they do exactly that, and maybe it's a little soon to expect them to overcome the creative struggles their predecessors never faced till they got around to album number two. So really you should probably just make note that if these bands are for instance playing in support at some show near you, their set is not necessarily one you want to spend at the bar or smoking outside, more likely it's exactly the one you should want to use to get properly warmed up. As to what the future then brings, who knows, this is however an alright start.

Download: Making Shadows, We All Fall
For The Fans Of: The Blackout, The First,
Listen: facebook.com/FlyThisForMeUK

Release Date 16.07.2012
Self-released

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