Crisis Party is another band from Matty Grace, who SPB has covered in various capacity, playing with Cluttered, Auditory Postcards, Future Girls, and maybe more. There’s a common lo-fi, high-energy anxiety to their poppy-punk, but Crisis Party is a new band and that comes across instantly. Those other bands (which also deal with serious, heavy topics) feel generally positive in tone, or at least come with uplifting energy. The first tonal impression of Welcome to the Party is anger, then frustration and, ultimately disappointment. I can’t speak for Grace but, to me, it seems to be a record about being continually dealt a shitty hand and being sick of it. Grace is joined by Anthony Cardozo (Precious Failures, The Flying Hellfish) and “Ska” Jeff (Doxx, Dogma, Zooman).
To me, this record is about identifying what is broken. Knowing when to stop waiting and when to take action and rebuild. While I said other related bands feel anxious, this one is different. It’s punching back at a world that keeps punching first. Action instead of resignation. That’s on display with the somewhat dissonant power chord sound, highlights by gritty production. Grace even sounds a little hoarse on the record, shouting more than singing, though with emotive fluctuation throughout. There are also some full-circle, repeated lyrics from other bands that give new perspective, emphasizing repetition with the “again and again and again” lyrics and, then in the next song, “Numbers,” which is all about [how] “The numbers don’t lie.”
This is DIY with an ear for melody, but masked in a heavier layer that drenches the songs with a more downtrodden tone. Take Cluttered or Future Girls, but step back with a dystopian element that counterpunches those verse-chorus-verse singalongs. To pull from the Bandcamp description, it’s equally Marked Men and The Wipers. In the end, it’s catchy and personal, but with a colder and harsher sound.
