Yours Truly – Afterglow (EP Review)

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Tamara May

Yours Truly – Afterglow
Released: 12th April 2019

Line up:

Mikaila Delgado // vocals
Teddie Haron // guitars
Lachlan Cronin // guitars
Bradley Cronan // drums

Sydney’s newest pop/punk band Yours Truly are pretty new on my radar, having only just came across them late last year. Shame on me, being a Sydneysider and all, but hey, that’s what happens when you spend the better part of the last 3 years chasing the end of the Warped Tour era in North America. Anyhow, these guys are fast becoming one of my new favourite bands and after seeing them smash their UNIFY Gathering appearance back in January, the release of Afterglow is going to catapult them into new levels of success. Yours Truly are only just getting started.

Opening track ‘Circles’ packs an in-your-face punch with catchy as fuck lyrics and hooks to suck you right into the band’s stylish sound. This one’s a fierce but infectious track, about vocalist Mikaila Delgado’s challenges in the industry. Most recently released single ‘I Can’t Feel’ sounds like it dives into some deeper personal struggles for Mikaila, but musically it’s still lighthearted and fun to bop your head to. (Sidenote: see my interview with Mikaila here!)

Angsty anthem ‘High Hopes’ was the first song I ever came across by these guys, and lyrically hits a little close to home for me personally. This one packs a fiery punch and although is still fun to listen to, the dark tones silhouetted throughout is what makes ‘High Hopes’ a true standout. Another highlight of Afterglow is ‘Delusional Paradise’, featuring guest vocals from Between You and Me vocalist Jake Wilson. This one begins to sound acoustic, but those punk guitars kick in almost immediately. ‘Delusional Paradise’ is the lyrical masterpiece of this EP, but match this with the epic riffs on this song and you’ve got a band that don’t just have the ability to write pop/punk anthems, but they’ve got the skills to experiment beyond their genre too.

‘Afterglow’ completes this short but sweet release with a mellowed out, hopeful pop/rock number. Vaguely reminiscent of earlier Tonight Alive, the title track symbolises letting go of one’s past, and finally feeling some freedom. This one sounds like a breath of fresh air from the band, after giving it their all on the previous four songs, ‘Afterglow’ sees them going for gold one more time, coming down from that high and leaves you with the utmost of hope that this band aren’t disappearing off the radar anytime soon.

Although short but sweet, it’s just enough to reel you in to the Yours Truly brand. Afterglow is an outstanding EP for the Australian pop/punk community to dive into, and this one will probably make some international waves too. It oozes fierce and empowering music that’ll have you questioning whether the rest of the world are getting tired of Australia churning out the best in female-fronted bands yet. I’m going to go with no, they’re definitely not, because Yours Truly are here to soar to new heights and release their brand of infectious, empowering punk tunes onto the world.