Flintshire Four Piece Falls, on paper, promise to be everything I love about British rock at the moment; eccentric, exciting, fast. Strongly influenced by Pulled Apart By Horses and having toured with the likes of Allusondrugs, Shikari Sound System and shared stages with Blacklisters, the band have also been championed by Radio 1 of late. This, their new single, has a lot to live up to.
Straight from the opening track and lead single “Get Well Soon” it is clear why there is so much excitement around this band. Not only can they deliver that energy, excitement and eccentricity but they can also write some pretty good pop songs. There’s actually two sides to this EP, there’s “Get Well Soon” and “Swarm” which are the radio friendly singles and perhaps most show the influence of PABH. If you imagine a band forming a sound around early PABH singles such as “High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive” then you will get close to what Falls are creating here. Does it matter that they have a nod in PABH’s way? No, never, this single is so full of energy and eccentricity of its own you are going to love it. There so much to like about this single, the verses are full of energy, with yelps and shouts before hitting into a pop chorus. What makes this single as well though is Falls get easily distracted and before you know it they are hitting in with some doom chords and whispered lyrics before the song is pulled back together with the chorus again. Perfect single material.
“Swarm” is another standout single on this EP. It has a cracking opening sequence; hard hitting stop start drums turn into a hard guitar riff. Layered vocals and a prominent bass soon turns into another doom filled and catchy chorus. It has the perfect mix between the sung catchy chorus and insane yelps and shouts in the background. The guitars chug and increase in intensity, and fit the mixed vocals well. Easily the standout track on the EP for me.
The second side to the EP is on the other two tracks and for me probably show the underbelly of Falls and this promises us a band that are not afraid to search for their own sound, move the genre boundaries and create a world that is not just in your face pop singles. “Shady Nasty” starts off with a familiar sound and stylings to the other tracks, with that undercurrent of violence almost and progressive intense riffs but it soon breaks off into a different direction, with a breakdown of style, deconstructing what they have already built. Half way though the track it actually starts to remind me a little of The Offspring (in a good way). I like the pace changes interjected into this track It works well.
Final track “Death in Disco Shoes” is the probably the track that most stands alone on the EP mainly for it epic and welcome Doom overtones. Throughout the track they are several instrumental breaks, and I imagine these would be great to see live. The band are very tight are this really shows, you get the feeling the band welcome these instrumental breaks and are loving playing them.
I can’t wait to hear more from the Falls camp, they have managed to produce an ep that is exhilarating, eccentric, inventive familiar, intense, insane and joyful all in four neat tracks. 10/10. Buy this, go crazy, see them live, keep ing bands as they breakthrough and it will room for more to follow and Falls are a great example of what a scene we could have.
One Hundred Percent Strong is out now
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