EP REVIEW: True Color – Calmgrove
CALMGROVE‘s 2019 debut EP Light On Your End earned them a lot of attention, with high praise from some of the most influential publications of the rock music scene, as well as spots on multiple Spotify editorial playlists. Formed in early 2018 on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the band have taken a little while to return with their second EP True Color.
The title track opens things up, and whilst the song itself is a fun, up-beat and fast-paced pop-punk track, that’s also its downfall. It just sounds like another run-of-the-mill pop-punk song, from the heavy opening guitar riff to the vocal delivery having a slightly auto-tuned pop edge. Of course, the band are still starting out, so this is still early days, but in a genre that is already over-saturated, it does sound very similar to a lot of the pop-punk bands of the past decade.
Cloudy does somewhat rectify this a bit by having an acoustic first verse before launching into the same run-of-the-mill sound. It is a shame that the instruments of this song sound almost like a direct copy and paste of the last one. However, there are moments where the band do try to stray from the path, the most noticeable being where the guitar, drums and bass each have a little solo in between the chorus and the second verse.
Jade experiments with some synths that are mixed into the background of the verses and pre-chorus. This works extremely well as it is only used a few times sparingly throughout the song and hints that there is more to CALMGROVE than meets the eye.
As the rest of the EP goes from another standard pop-punk song in Fortune, to the slightly softer and more rock-orientated Say Less, to the mid-tempo closer Tossing In My Sleep, it does seem that the latter half of the EP has been released from the constraints of the first, much more repetitive half. It is as if the band were hesitant at first to try and branch out, and then – along the way – grew in confidence. Despite the songs at first sounding similar and then sounding extremely different, the production and mixing means that the songs all stand out in their own right, even if it is sometimes through small changes throughout the song.
Overall, True Color is an upbeat and fun EP, although it does stumble at the first hurdle. However, the second half of the EP shows that CALMGROVE have a few tricks up their sleeve. Whilst the band might not make the most of them on this EP, the hints of a new direction sound-wise are very exciting. That being said, the first half of the EP feels very much like the same song with a few tweaks. However, this is the band’s second release; they only started in 2018 and they have plenty of time to hone their craft. But for what it’s worth, True Color is a a slightly run-of-the-mill, but incredibly fun EP that finds its feet throughout its six songs.
Rating: 6/10
True Color is set for release on June 16th via self-release.
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