I had heard a lot about Duffus prior to receiving their new EP, but actually very little by them. It’s something that seems to happen quite a lot – bands tour their little behinds off but for whatever reason seem to neglect the recording side of things. Anyway, this set of East Midlands based youngsters (and I can say that firm in the knowledge I’m almost 8 years older than their youngest member) play a spritely pop-punk of sorts that, on first listen, sounds quite impressive indeed. The four songs on offer here are very much in the mould of your New Found Glorys or your The Starting Lines, all bouncy pop-punk guitar riffs and attempted soaring vocals. Having completed 100+ dates this year already, you can see these bairns have made a good stab at perky pop-punk anthems and they deserve a pat on the back.
But (and you knew that was coming!) for all the decent parts that are on offer, there’s a certain lack of identity that hinders Duffus‘ progress. Thankfully it’s nothing that cannot be rectified and if the band work hard over the next 12-18 months, they could turn out to be something rather special. For me there are two problems in the Duffus camp. The first is that none of the four songs here really has a killer hook. For all the hummable moments there’s not one track, not even a chorus, where the lyrics infest your cranium and force you to sing along. Perky they may be, but addictive Duffus are not. Yet. There is an art to writing this kind of music and while Duffus are on the right path – see ‘The Great Mistake’ for proof – the other songs seem to meander rather than hit the nail on the head.
The other issue for me is the lack of identity in the vocals. The best bands have singers that you can easily identify. If you look at NFG everyone recognises Jordan Pundik’s nasal dulcet tones. Ditto Matt Skiba and Alkaline Trio, or even Mark Hoppus and Blink 182. That’s not to say any of them are ‘pure’ singers, but they all have a distinct style. Duffus do not. The songs don’t stick out as they probably should because the vocals aren’t as authoratative as they could, and probably should, be. ‘The Soundtrack To Our Next Year’ could be tender and emotional but ends up sappy and predictable, all because there’s no ‘oomph’. This track in particular could have been written by anyone. Duffus need to become Duffus – they need to wrestle their own style out of themselves and hit music fans with a style of music that can instantly be recognised as their own. In places Duffus have the qualities needed to be a very good band and with a little work I feel they will go on to do just that. But for this EP there’s an x-factor missing and the band’s obvious talents are not fulfilled. Their next record will be the most important of their career so far…
www.duffusmusic.com
Paul