Stick Around - Break Free
GERMANY’S STICK AROUND DROPS ‘BREAK FREE’
From BY, Germany comes Stick Around, a pop-punk outfit who recently dropped Break Free, on January 13 to be precise.
Stick Around
I discovered Break Free while rummaging through Bandcamp’s ‘New Arrivals,’ in the pop-punk category. Sadly, and frequently the case with new releases on Bandcamp, there’s virtually no gen on the band. Google reveals nada, except for another band, from Galway, by the same name.
What I can tell you is this: Stick Around has five members. I gleaned this factoid from their photo at the top of their Bandcamp page. And the EP has five tracks. I could contact the band via Bandcamp’s messaging system, but I’ve done that before and the system either doesn’t work, or the bands flat-out don’t want to reply. Perhaps they’re shy, or maybe they’ve disbanded during the interim.
Still, the EP is excellent. So let’s get to the good stuff.
The first track, “Let Me Down,” opens on thrumming guitar riffs accented by a searing lead guitar. The vocalist, female, has one of those low-slung yummy voices exuding tight husky flavors and is capable of moussing up to skintight rasping, snarky textures. This is my favorite track on the EP because of the song’s harmonic structure and the slightly jarring rawness of the vocals.
I love the tempo change, going deeper and slower as glowing harmonies float overhead.
“Sick of playing your games / Without any prospect of change / You let me down, slowly but deep / Wake me up from this nightmare in my eternal sleep.”
“Waiting Room” rides initially remote rumbling guitars and then flows into stuttering chords which push into muscular textures, deep and dirty and metallic-flavored – a wall of sound effect. I love the tempo change, going deeper and slower as glowing harmonies float overhead.
“Meant For More” features cool vocal harmonies, along with a males vocalist, whose voice is full of angst. “Old Pictures” begins on snarling guitars exuding blistering tones, as reverberating tom-toms and a snap-crackle-pop snare adds tasty percussive strokes.
“Sweeping Me Away,” after a subdued guitar intro, slides into brawny colors rife with scorching guitars. Once the harmonics take hold, the guitars go rat-a-tat-tat and then drop into full-bore hefty chords as the music assumes bulk and brakes a bit.
Break Free is darn good, primarily because of the lead singer’s voice, both husky and grating, as well as some potent guitar work.
Follow Stick Around Bandcamp
