Daniel Vigilante
Sandra 1
Michael ItaliaEP Review: SPUN RIVALS
This 4-song package by Melbourne outfit Spun Rivals is a nifty display of hooks, jaggered riffing and displays a promising future for this style of song writing. It's not punk, nor rock, nor pop—but a little of each. Post-punk indie new-wave is what the press release says, and as broad as that sounds, it feels kind of appropriate.
Scottish singer/guitarist Rich Davies Jr. has a whiny way with vocals, but mixed with some devilishly distorted bass lines and hammering drums, it works as kind of contrasting colour in a rainbow.
Nineteen Ninety Eight is clearly the single-track here, even though it doesn’t really follow the formula of your average radio single. There's a good chorus and bouncy verses, but half way through, it ventures into weirder territory and doesn't really come back—which is really effective, as it makes you want to listen again. And perhaps more importantly, gets you thinking, why is he so sorry about 1998? What happened? I'm sure answer is in the lyrics, but as with all things catchy, I only remember the grunt of the chorus: "I'm so sorry about 1998!"
My favourite track out of the four is We Fixed Headaches with Chemicals, which delves into prog-rock territory and is the most unusual arrangement on this EP. It's a hard edge industrial flavoured assortment of riffs and electronica without much vocal. It rolls along like a car crash—one that is really damn interesting to watch from a distance.
Money Song is a nice acoustic melody about how much time is wasted trying to make money and not enjoying the finer things like living and getting drunk. You sometimes feel that it could have gotten angrier, though the dichotomy of lyrical content with sweet acoustic guitar chords is a neat little trick.
An Ordinary Man sees fellow Melbournites 'Little Red' helping out with vocals, and is perhaps the other contender for radio play. It's a little more traditional than the first track, and is—in this reviewer's opinion—precisely the reason why it isn't as appealing. But that said, it rounds off the EP nicely and ultimately begs another listen, which is all an EP can hope to do.
Scottish singer/guitarist Rich Davies Jr. has a whiny way with vocals, but mixed with some devilishly distorted bass lines and hammering drums, it works as kind of contrasting colour in a rainbow.
Nineteen Ninety Eight is clearly the single-track here, even though it doesn’t really follow the formula of your average radio single. There's a good chorus and bouncy verses, but half way through, it ventures into weirder territory and doesn't really come back—which is really effective, as it makes you want to listen again. And perhaps more importantly, gets you thinking, why is he so sorry about 1998? What happened? I'm sure answer is in the lyrics, but as with all things catchy, I only remember the grunt of the chorus: "I'm so sorry about 1998!"
Money Song is a nice acoustic melody about how much time is wasted trying to make money and not enjoying the finer things like living and getting drunk. You sometimes feel that it could have gotten angrier, though the dichotomy of lyrical content with sweet acoustic guitar chords is a neat little trick.
