And The Wasters

State of Repair

Written by: MAK on 20/05/2017 17:50:31

Fusing quite a distinctive brand of Folk-Punk-Ska sound with elements of Latin, dub and supposedly a hint of Jazz, Bristol 'chaos merchants', And the Wasters (Formerly known as Will Tun and the Wasters) return with their eclectic new five track EP, “State of Repair”. Over the past five years, the band have honed their sound by touring festivals, squats and far flung fields, travelling far and wide to play to spread their positive message and sound.

The EP opens with the ever so bouncy “Lion’s Share”, which is laced which chirpy reggae rhythms, upbeat brass melodies and folky accordion hooks to boot. It’s a catchy opener to get you dancing right from the start. The track even slows down for the bridge, showing the calmer dub influences with typical ska strokes. This helps give the outro a big impact. The follow-up track, “Small Victories” follows up with ska heavy vibe, it’s a fair bit more hard-hitting than the catchy opener, yet it’s still a fun listen. The vibrant brass melodies and their tones remind me of the old skacore band, Six.Point.Five, after a few, listens they get stuck in your head and you’ll be humming along.

“Reduce, Reuse, Rebel!” takes the elements focal elements of the first couple of tracks, it's punchier, yet slightly more angst-ridden vocally and topically with the words “Capitalism is killing us all” sang through gritted teeth. Yet when the ska-punk atmosphere is there it’s still very joyful, there’s even some fun fuelled Oi! influences in the mix. “Bound as One” then stands out much like “Small Victories” did, the brass melodies, which are far more captivating than anything else in the song. It’s probably the most folk influenced track on the EP as the Accordion peaks more toward the end. The closer is an incredibly chilled dub track with lots of brass instrument solo melodies and slow strokes, it’s a calm end to the album.

I find that the best track on the release is “Lion’s Share” and that it opens the EP with a bang, but the rest of it struggles to make the same impact. Not that they aren’t enjoyable, but it leaves the EP with a bit of an anti-climax in comparison after such a promising start. “State of Repair” features some decent musicianship and song-writing, I just hope the future material is just as bouncy as the opener. The production of the release is not as professionally sounding as a lot of ska releases I’ve heard recently, but the unpolished nature gives it a nice DIY vibe to it. Overall, it’s a good listen, but it hasn’t completely captivated me like Bolshy did earlier this year. The unique addition of folk in the mix helped, I’ve only heard Brighton band, Ratbag pull it off before, maybe it can be a growing trend.

7

Download: Lion's Share, Small Victories
For The Fans Of: Streetlight Manifesto, Bolshy, Ratbag
Listen: facebook.com

Release date 12.03.2017
Self Released


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