This Familiar Smile
What Kind of Monster Am I? EP
Any band who credits their merch guy as a member is alright by me. Glasgow quintet (alright, quartet, but I’m going to humour them on the merch guy thing) This Familiar Smile have been making waves this year in the press and on the live circuit, and EP ‘What Kind of Monster Am I?’ shows just why.
Undeniably emo, This Familiar Smile have all the tempo and dynamic changes required to get rooms jumping, heads nodding and tears flowing. They also, in David, have an extremely strong melodic centrepiece.
Opening with ‘Ode to the Bomb’, they’re immediately channelling early Biffy Clyro to good effect, a trend which continues throughout the EP. On first listen, the constant stops, starts and changes on a song such as ‘The Scene Kid Collapses’ can be bewildering, but this is a record to get under your skin. Once it does, it grows and grows until the sheer invention (impressive for such a young band) is taking over previously derelict parts of your brain.
The muscularity of closer ‘For Me Paris Was Always a Spectator Sport’ is a welcome change and shows that this is a band with potential, with the ability to grow out of the narrow confines of emo and to become a real British rock powerhouse in the months and years to come. For now, though, this is a fine start.
Guest article from Haydon S.
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