Every once in a while you come across a band that you know are going to be big. I sensed it with Blink 182 at around the Dude Ranch era and then with New Found Glory about a year ago. And I was right on both accounts. Now, psychic Sav predicts that a little known band on Drive-Thru Records could well break it big. And that bands name is Finch.
I’ve been harping on about this little lot for the past three months, ever since I heard the amazing ‘Letters To You.’ OK, I know what you’ll be thinking, another Drive-Thru band. Another Blink 182 rip-off act. WRONG! It’s difficult to classify what genre the band are exactly, if you cross punk, emo and post-hardcore with a pop twist you won’t be far off. In essence, mix Glassjaw with New Found Glory. And add a sprinkling of the Deftones. Sound tasty? Well it should do…
‘Falling Into Place’ is Finch‘s first ever release aside from a few demos that have found there way onto the internet. And although it is very rough production wise, it is absolute genius. At just four tracks and 16 minutes in length, Finch do exactly what many bands cannot do in a career. They produce four songs that are so good, so original and ooze melody without compromising the harshness of their sound. In short, it’s the EP of the year so far.
Opener ‘Perfection Through Silence‘ hits you with a wall of intense guitars and a rumbling bassline. Sonically superb, lyrically brilliant and highly original. But somehow, amongst the background screaming squally guitars, there is one hell of a tune there.
‘Letters To You’ is absolutely unbelievable. You will fall in love with this track. You WILL be hitting the repeat button and you WILL be singing along. Lyrically, this song is as good as ‘San Dimas’ by the Ataris. High praise indeed. “Can’t you see that I want to be, there with open arms.” A song for couples methinks. “I want you to know that I miss you, I miss you so.” Heartfelt stuff. OK, the critics can say that it’s pretty generic and that it’s not particularly original material to write about, but if you do it well, who cares? This will certainly feature in my top ten best songs of the year poll.
‘Waiting’ follows on in a similar vein to what we’ve already heard. Post-hardcore rumbles dripping with melody. It’s possibly the weakest track on the CD, but it’s still superb. And when I say superb, I really do mean it. It’s the most emo track on the CD too, which is always nice.
‘New Kid’ is very much like ‘Passenger’ by the Deftones, a band close to the hearts of the boys in Finch – they even started off as a Deftones cover band. ‘New Kid’ is a slow paced brooding affair, with what sounds like a sampled drum beat and then some whispery vocals. It even sounds a little bit like Radiohead. An electic mix I have to admit, but it seriously does work.
A Mark Trombino produced full-length CD is on the way soon. He did ‘Bleed American’ by Jimmy Eat World if you’ve been living under a rock. And that happens to be very, very good. You really should make a date in your diary. Cos if it’s as good as this, then Finch will be touring the UK in arena’s in a years time…
But be warned. I got this as an import on the internet and paid a whopping £10. So check out where you can get this little beauty from a tad cheaper if you can. It’s well worth it.
Paul Savage