Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Troubled Coast - "Letters"

I received this in a download from the band (thanks Corey). This is their newest effort (following a 10 inch the year before, and EP before that).

The Troubled Coast play a sound that, to be honest, is kind of hard to pin down- yeah, it's hardcore & punk, but the sound jumps about, with what I could best describe as more modern emo/melodic hardcore as it's most consistent base. The band lists bands ranging from Verse to Brand New as influences. While I am not terribly familiar with Brand New, a few friends are rather big fans, I can definitely hear it; thick and textured guitars and screamed vocals that can give way to spoken/singing and more melodic/mid-paced parts. They have moments where the vocal/lyrical pacing makes me think of older 90's emo bands rattling off lyrics that almost sound like a conversation rather than lyrics, making me think of similar things Stay Gold would do on their full length lp, and at other times almost like a flow of thought style similar to the band who is currently doing it so well, La Dispute.

The first listen I jumped around a lot, but repeated listens on the work drive and some love in the headphones (headphones are always the real test for me) have grown on me tremendously. The record hits its stride by the second/third song in and keeps a pretty consistent pace of melodic hardcore. I can see these guys from Nor. Cal getting bigger & doing a killer tour with a band like Defeater. The sound is there and they do it very well.

Stand Out tracks: Feigned Belief, Drug Halo, XX/XY, Absent Father Holy Ghost, & It's Not Good For You

Definitely a nice surprise- I'm planning to track down their older releases and see how it all holds up live.

Support the current, touring, & available bands:
the Troubled Coast (Facebook) | Bandcamp Page | BUY Their Music

The Troubled Coast - "Letters"

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