EP Review : Bright Spark Destroyer - Holy Yell EP
- Written by Antonio Tzikas
It’s hard enough coming up with a solid five track EP, never mind doing it on the road as Bright Spark Destroyer have done. The band started it’s life with members spread out across the country, formulating their material via e-mails and later recording the tunes all over the place, from barns to flats to cars on the M4. One can only imagine how frustrating that must have been, so hats off to them for even getting it done.
The fruit of their efforts comes in the form of five track EP Holy Yell, a record that combines some standard reverby guitar jangle with some really interesting drum ideas that sound like they could be off a Health record in places. I guess you could draw comparisons with In Rainbows in terms of the mood of the music, especially on highlight ‘They Already Know’. All five tunes are well put together and aren’t severely lacking in any department though the vocal can at times can sound a bit bedwetting and is my only big gripe about the songs, it’s just that they occasionally remind me of Keane and other such horrors found lurking in the middle of the road.
Take opener 'Dead Sea Scrolls' for example, there’s something there but the attempt at creating atmosphere just falls short and reminds me of a college band yet to drop fully into it’s own style. The same can be said for most of the EP which all seems to be ‘not quite there‘ although it does show all the signs of a capable and willing band who may just have something really good in them somewhere. The drumming is the main thing that stands out here and is almost the whole driving force of the songs which is not how it should be and sounds a bit out of place alongside the rather drab instrumentation.
The songs do pick up toward the end of the EP though and closer ‘A Feeling Of Health’ is a mini epic, clocking in at little over six minutes the song switches between slow and intricate to a full on post-rock blast that really surprises the first time it kicks in. The sense of journey around the song is what makes it and I seem to totally forget that the vocals annoy me; it all just seems to come together on this track, but it’s too late to save the record.