Oreosmith, whatever the hell that title means, is the first release from Powernap and it’s familiar and powerful, leaving curious signs of where the band may develop. The general sound is gruff, mid-tempo punk a la Jawbreaker or The Broadways.
The EP is 6 songs long, clocking at 18 minutes and it keeps a defined sound throughout. The mid-tempo numbers like “Beautiful Day” and “Jewelry” are nice slices of the style, but they don’t bring a lot of new inspiration to the table. When the tempo takes just a little more variance, as in “Girls From Bars,” which speeds things up, it adds a little more zing, leaping above the somewhat drone gruff vocals of Hugo Mudie. That variance earns a bright spot. The chorus in “Live Slow, Die Whenever” is so big it almost feels too epic (though what do you expect with that song title?), and when they give a harder edge to the guitars in “I’ll Resist” it really stands out in a coarse and angry punk swing.
The band includes members and exes of Miracles and Sainte Catherines, among others, and in a first EP it brings a lot of promise. I’d like to hear them once they define the direction of their songwriting a touch more.
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