EP REVIEW: You Are The Reason I Hate Leaving – Dude Trips

Few bands chronicle the mid twenties life experiences as well as DUDE TRIPS. Whether it’s the colloquial Scottish twang on vocalists Shaun Ross and Jamie Mathers‘ voices; or their ability to pen emo rock choruses full of heart: this quartet just get it. You Are The Reason I Hate Leaving is a another emotional tug in their expanding back catalogue, but for the first time in the band’s career, this feels like a step forward.

Where DUDE TRIPS have sat comfortably in emo tones since their arrival on 2017’s Sad Lads, here we find something slightly grander. Polola‘s middle eight hits with clean chord punk rock, it’s more THE MENZINGERS than CASEY. 1964 claims similar heights with its climactic chorus builds. This isn’t the first time the Scots have told their tales through a hefty rock scope, but it’s the first time they’ve done so in a way that translates through genres. There’s as much for fans of THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM here as there is YOUTH FOUNTAIN obsessives.

Bookended by two tracks discussing the loss of Ross‘ dog – You Are The Reason I Hate Leaving hangs heavy. Leaving quickly puts word to the gaping hole in Shaun‘s chest, as he murmur’s the lyric “You’re still breathing/You’re the reason I hate leaving/You are so fucking precious is hurts.” More than any other time of the bands career, we’re put in the front seat of the four-piece’s drama. Gentle takes a temporal shift to the aftermath of the death, and tells of the tragedy with a transparent ache. It’s a fitting, solemn end to an EP that insists on situating itself in the midst of the battles of real life.

You Are The Reason I Hate Leaving doesn’t just slot in comfortably with the rest of DUDE TRIPS‘ melancholic back catalogue. This is the moment where we’ve been treated to a peek into the looking glass. You can’t help but sense from here that the Scotland crew are one step away from becoming the emo/punk rock hybrid that can stand shoulder to shoulder with COLD YEARS, and spearhead a movement.

Rating: 8/10

You Are The Reason I Hate Leaving is set for release on August 6th via Venn Records.

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