The High Cost of Low Living,
Winch House
In places 'The High Cost of Low Living' is exceptional. Better than exceptional even - it's on a par with some of the premier US pop-punk bands. But all too often this record fails to hit the mark because it's generic beyond belief, and it's those inconsistencies which, at this point anyway, prohibit Winch House from being at the top of the pop-punk leagues. In UK terms they're not heavy enough to match Me vs Hero nor are they catchy enough to beat Not Advised. They're still good - and they show a lot of promise - but it's not there yet.
'You'll Never Get Back In...' is the band at their best. Catchy, gang vocals, fast-paced guitars and solid, if a little too American, vocals. It's the band at their best. This continues in songs such as 'Oh The Irony' and 'Lady Vengeance'. But for every good song there's another that's not so good. Rather than be bad songs the band fall into the trap of being schmaltzy, way OTT production-wise or just too obvious. 'Sweet taste of Summer' falls into most of those categories, while 'Let Me In' is a bit dull and 'You Have Nothing Nice To Say' sounds a bit like an All Time Low b-side. 'When Push Comes To Shove' really isn't good at all.
The good news is that if this was an EP it would be 4, maybe even 4.5, star worthy. So on those songs alone it would be totally wrong to write Winch House off. I just feel that if you write an album you need 10 killer songs and WH don't yet have 10 killer songs. When they do they'll make the UK - and maybe even further afield - sit up and take note. And I for one will be singing along with them.
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