EP REVIEW: Same Side – Same Side
Whilst THE STORY SO FAR take the time off after their impressively accessible and emotive last album Proper Dose, SAME SIDE is the next project to take over the attention of THE STORY SO FAR guitarist Kevin Geyer. With a far more acoustic and ambient feel to the debut five songs released by the solo project, SAME SIDE seem to be taking the best aspects of the current pop punk scene and trying to fuse them with the same kind of vibe bands like COVET are pushing with their colourful guitar leads and tones.
Smoke opens with copious amounts of ALICE IN CHAINS worship, taking queues from anthems like Nutshell to really kick off the EP on its best foot. The vocal melodies are gentle, and work well with the acoustic base layer that undercuts the opening song. It’s a good introduction to the general tone of what SAME SIDE is, and Kevin takes the same emotional veins mined by his main band but approaches and digests the themes in a different and far more deliberate way. If songs like Clairvoyant give you chills, then you are almost predestined to enjoy what SAME SIDE have to offer.
It isn’t really until the following Stuck in a Hole gains traction for the EP to start really making an impact. The song flows beautifully, with the vocal melodies and lyrics coming together to create a poignant and generally beautiful song. Whilst the guitars and vocals carry the songs, there is a severe lack of bass to really make the song pop, and also to really further highlight the rest of the composition. A bit more of a backbone to the songs would help them impact with the listener even more, as opposed to these almost fragile sounding five songs.
The Way It Seems starts off with some post-rock technical guitar leads that have a strange tone to them, before bleeding into another standard acoustic rock song. This time round the bass is far more prevalent, but the mixing of harsh sounding electric guitars doesn’t compliment the rest of the music as well as one would hope. Still, these ideas are welcomed, especially if SAME SIDE can tighten things up and make the marriage of sounds more seamless, as there could be real success found within those art rock guitar leads floating throughout emotionally tinged ballads. It is on this track that the group really start to show their USP.
Rounding of the EP with a self-titled song is a good way to further cement the project’s name into the mind of listeners, but the song is a lethargic trip through calming and generally enjoyable musical territories but ultimately does nothing truly exciting with the sounds. As a taster for a new project, these five songs are comfortable and easy to digest, but it is the flourishes of intriguing guitar leads and the fusing of more art rock styling with the acoustic pop punk vibe that really proves SAME SIDE to be something worth checking out.
It’s easy to see how songs like this can soundtrack a day in the sunshine, but there is certainly more to SAME SIDE that is yet to reveal itself. This is mostly for fans who already have a foot in the door when it comes to Kevin Geyer and his work with The STORY SO FAR, but for anyone who is looking for an easily digestible collection of pleasant acoustic sounds, this is as good a place as any to find just that.
Rating: 6/10
Same Side is out now via Pure Noise Records.
Like SAME SIDE on Facebook.