Are you frustrated at waiting for Say Anything to release some new material? Well You, me and everyone we know are the perfect solution. The similarities between “Party for the grown and sexy” and Max Bemis’s Say Anything are remarkable and that’s great if you ask me! While originality is rightfully praised by music critics, it’s no bad thing to be heavily influenced by a band as creditable as Say Anything so early on. Having been together for less than a year YMAEWK are currently un-signed and this debut EP should be enough to convince an indie label to take a chance on them soon enough.
The comparisons with Say Anything are hard to ignore, as both bands are vocally strong and mix pop hooks with a slightly more aggressive (yet never threatening) tone. Not only that, but they also offer witty lyrics and clever song writing abilities which are sometimes missing in debut releases. “I’d be more interested if you weren’t already spoken for” is a confident first track, while “Do it again (you aren’t making me want to touch you)” benefits from taking a more structured approach. These six tracks are sometimes in need of more anthemic choruses which allow the listener to sing a long, but fifth track “The rent is due” does make an attempt when the band sing “so make it a pin to say you miss me” but I’d like to hear a lot more of that. Finishing with a semi acoustic track in the form of “Carolina Heat” is a nice touch, as by the time the full band drop into the mix they’ve managed to display their excellent vocal abilities and knack at writing good pop-rock tracks.
I’ve continually linked this band with Say Anything and you’d be mad not to in my position, however this shouldn’t take away from what is a really strong debut CD. Give this band another year to find their musical feet and we could be looking at quite an impressive debut album.
Tom