Em Gee NMA cassette
I admire this project because it is unapologetically about being things that the punk world at large tends to scoff at these days: it’s a hyper-personal, bedroom-pop-feeling, ukulele-forward bit of folk punk. It takes huge balls to put that combination out into the world, so I have to commend that courage. It comes close to working for me, but sadly it doesn’t quite get there. It sounds like a lo-fi, back-alley performance (is “back-alley punk” a thing? it should be) version of the spirit of the WORLD INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY through a Plan-it X Records filter. There is a ton of charm here, confessional and simply direct lyrics that very much have a personality, and some beautiful little moments, but on most tracks, that slightly off-meter folk punk vocal delivery just doesn’t come together with the song. The fact that there is a full band and some interesting instrumentation (there’s a trombone in here) comes so fucking close to making it work, too. I didn’t hate this, I can tell it’s just not my thing more than any objective flaw in the music, but I’m glad this is out there.