Vodatumour Blues,
LovejunkIpswich is not exactly a place you would imagine as a hot bed of punk rock activity. However, it is home to rising UK punkers Lovejunk. The band released their debut album, ‘Tribulations’ last year and are now releasing five new tracks on the ‘Vodatumour Blues’ EP.
Lovejunk have been together as a band for sometime but it is only recently that people are beginning to sit up and take notice of them. They are a band with the pop punk label firmly attached to them, but this release shows them with a few heavier rock leanings as well. The band are also well renowned for their fun filled live gigs, which can feature anything from hook filled songs to trouser dropping antics!
‘Vodatumour Blues’ features five unreleased songs of varying quality. It is worth bearing in mind at this point that a couple of the songs were recorded a number of years ago. (Way back in the 90’s!)
The EP opens with a bang with the best song on it, the catchy ‘Ethan & Emma’. It is a song that showcases everything that is good about the band; a melodic, speedy little song that has a chorus that will stick in your head. It is easy to see why it is a live favourite. ‘Parents Can’t Win’ is a little slower, with more rock leanings. It has a lot of potential but is let down by a below par chorus. ‘Vodatumour Blues’ is probably the weakest song on the EP. It just isn’t memorable in any shape or form.
The last two songs on the EP are covers and very much a hiss and miss affair. The cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘If You Gotta Go’ is a definite hit and is well performed by the band. However, the cover of Tom Petty’s ‘Walls’ is a miss. In truth it probably wasn’t the best song to attempt to cover.
At the end of the day ‘Vodatumour Blues’ is nothing more than average. A couple of the songs are very good and a couple of them are very poor. It is perhaps not the best reflection of the true ability of the band, with the exception of ‘Ethan & Emma’. It is worth buying if you are a fan of the band, for the new tracks, but my advice would be to wait until the Lovejunk release their second album later this year. Hopefully that will contain the spark that you know they possess, but which is sadly missing for much of this EP.
Mark
