EP REVIEW: Contrast – Get Your Head Straight

Want a summer record? Driving to the beach/skatepark/sunset spot with your best homies, someone hands you the aux cord and your mind goes blank? Enter GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT. Contrast is the closest thing to a time machine you’re going to find any time soon. This EP takes you right back to that oh-so-common ‘I’ve just discovered A DAY TO REMEMBER’ teenage moment.

GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT are certainly a band still figuring out their character – the shoe does not quite fit yet – but that’s not to say there is much left to be desired here. The guitar work in particular is extraordinary, and the marriage of a more modern take on pop-punk and heavier sounds works extremely well – especially in Two Sided, which feels like a band just having a great time.

Medusa is an absolute stand-out on this record. With the uber-delayed, reverb drenched guitars in the intro and the gorgeous left-field rhythms in the chorus, it’s so easy to lose yourself in this. This track is also an example of how strong the vocal work from GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT actually is. Tyler Hall is definitely still working out his own vibe, but his work on Medusa and Consider in particular bodes very well for his future. 

Contrast plays as if we are listening to the songwriting journey of GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT, as if they develop their skills as the EP plays. Each track is better than the last and that includes EP closer Consider. A brilliant piece that moves in a new direction every thirty seconds and sounds less like a modern pop-punk act than it does a UK post-hardcore act from twelve years ago, hat-tipping to early DEAF HAVANA and WE ARE THE OCEAN. It’s easy to overlook ‘just another’ pop-punk/rock/post-whatever band, but there’s something else present here. There’s heart and ambition – something woefully absent in the tidal wave of soundalikes that followed in the wake of NECK DEEP.

This record isn’t challenging; it’s not hard to enjoy. It starts off great and gets better as the track count rises. There may not be much new ground explored here, but this EP is a much-needed refreshing take on pop-punk. A solid debut effort. Contrast is a very good omen for what this band does next.

Rating: 7/10 

Contrast is set for release June 7th via self-release. 

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