Very, very soon Brand New will be hot property. Their ‘Your Favourite Weapon‘ CD has just been released to critical acclaim from all quarters for being rather good. Its high-octane, forceful and in-yer-face style has quickly made it one of the best records to have come out in recent times. And so to tide fans over, Brand New have teamed up with Safety In Numbers to give us this limited edition split EP.
However, the first thing you notice with this very short effort is that Brand New aren’t quite as spiteful, and, well, loud as usual. Infact ‘Moshi Moshi’ is very Weezer-esque. It’s quite a shock to the system listening to a band who vividly described somebody flying through a car windscreen then singing a straight-up pop-punk love song. Still, in a lo-fi way this is a good song, showing that the band can mix their style without too much trouble. Their second track is ‘Am I Wrong’, a cover by a band called Love Spit Love. Who, I hear you ask? Yeah, I dunno either. But again we see a more mellow side to Brand New, with nothing more than New Amsterdam style rumblings mixed with piano and a small orchestra. It’s emo and very different to what we have come to expect from the band, so it will be interesting to see how the next album comes along.
Safety In Numbers feature ex members of Hot Rod Circuit and the drummer of the New Amsterdams, so their track ‘No Use’ is not quite so much of a shock. Focusing on a poppy rock kinda feel, the track is far more up-tempo than the Brand New songs and isn’t too dissimilar from what HRC have been doing recently. It also has a Foo Fighters feel to it to, with vocal melodies balancing out the driving guitars. The final track is the Journey song ‘Faithfully’. Again this is guitar driven pop with an alternative edge, and is reasonably pleasant of the ear without being that great. Having not heard the original version it’s impossible to say how good a job Safety In Numbers have done. But what I will say is that there is enough here to suggest that a full length record will be worthy of a listen.
This is only a limited edition release so it may be worth snapping this up now before Brand New get really big – it’s a solid little EP that showcases a different side to one band, and introduces another. Try it, you just might like it…
You can buy this EP by visiting www.triplecrownrecords.com
Paul Savage