DissolvedIn are clearly talented kids and can easily write catchy songs, but they’re suffering from a huge identity crisis which I feel will hinder them from making any kind of impact on the UK scene. Over the course of a 5-track EP the band go from sounding like Motion City Soundtrack (‘Egocentric’) to Four Year Strong (‘Mapped Roads’) to Metro Station (‘First Impressions’). I just get the general impression the band don’t really know what kind of sound suits them best and so they sprinkle their influences in a scattergun fashion over all the tracks. The result is a bit of a mess – there’s no cohesion, so while songs have catchy choruses (all three of the above will make you sing along), as an EP it just doesn’t flow at all. It actually sounds more like a compilation CD.
If you like US pop-punk with synths then you’ll like this band. I know the PT forums have ripped into the band’s video for ‘First Impressions’ (which I have to admit is exceedingly cringeworthy for a band from Berkshire…), but the song itself isn’t too bad. DissolvedIn have an ear for a melody and while they tend to go overboard on vocal effects and needless synths, the talent is clearly there. It’s just not consistent enough for me at this point. Take each track on it’s own and DissolvedIn aren’t too bad. It’s Americanised, true, but they’re as good as the likes of Paige and other UK acts doing similar things. But if they want to make the step up the band desperately need their own sound and not a mish-mash of everyone else’s.