To all the unsigned artists out there, Just*Kellie’s history could be an all to familiar one. Having created their first demo mere months after there incarnation and having completed around fifty shows in and around Yorkshire, things were rosy. After all who wouldn’t be chuffed having created there first piece of music? Youthful exuberance got the better of them and they quickly went back to the studio to record six more songs , which by their own admission were “rushed and poorly produced”. So what to do next, having encountered highs and lows of recording? Combine the best from both to produce this s/t effort!
Hailing From Rotherham the three-piece combine to create a brand of pop punk which almost all of us have heard before. Featuring the usual array of songs revolving around girls and guitar riffs which are easy on the ear, Just*Kellie won’t win any awards for originality. Unfortunately though, I’m a sucker for this kinda music, and without being soft, this EP is kind of alright, in a conformist type of way.
It starts as it means to go on with ‘One love song’ which is as clichéd as they come, and proving no more than a standard affair. ‘From Lee and me’ forwards the EP in the right direction without being startlingly different to the
previous effort while ‘In the event of a major water leak’ is another which fails to capture the imagination in any major way, featuring more standard arrangements and riffs. ‘My microphone’ is the shining light for the band though, featuring plenty of different pitch and pace changes, the song is slightly more on edge than others and thus gives the band a different output to the norm. ‘Your Song’ rounds it all off in familiar fashion proving a bit of a downer in terms of musical ideas and inventiveness.
Alas, Just*Kellie are a bright young trio who ultimately will need to add a certain edge to their music to really progress. The five songs on show are all dependable without being exciting which is where the problems lie. They simply sound like a hundred other bands out there, which is why changes maybe needed.
Jay