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Shorts - Something Else (Submitted Review)

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

/10

Oct 8, 2017

7 min read

SHORTS – Something Else
Released: October 8th, 2017

SHORTS Line up:

Shayne McNeill | Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Armarin Saengsri | Guitar/Bass
Lachlan Bradford | Vocals
Mitchell Casey | Drums

SHORTS online:

Facebook
Website

The world has seen its fair share of grunge inspired music. Surely it would have died out by now, but with bands like DZ Deathrays and Violent Soho making a storm in the Aussie music scene, people clearly aren’t sick of it yet. Shorts are a Melbourne born grunge-pop band that just released another shot of caffeine to the scene with their four track debut EP, Something Else. Our ears are sent straight back to the sounds of Weezer with hard hitting choruses and guitar tones generously seasoned with fuzz. Although it’s not a particularly adventurous group of songs, they have still undoubtedly hit the grooves that make fans of the genre want to get rowdy and crack open a few beers with the crew.
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‘Zyka’ is the first song to activate our ears and does so with a fat, dirty riff over the top of some equally grunge-injected power chords. Lachlan Bradford then introduces his voice with a slightly less convincing attitude than I expected. The sonic environment feels like it would accompany the typical ‘I’m against learning how to sing properly’ vocalist, but the boys seem to be moulding in some pop influence. Thankfully, we can all still let our hair out for a swing as the chorus is a fun and rowdy sing-a-long of WAAHHHs. Caking on fuzz to the vocals, bass and guitars definitely makes the song sound like a rock anthem, but overall, everything was too tidy, polished and anticlimactic.

Don’t mistake Shorts for a band that lack any edgy composing because ‘Sun Dogs’ is inflated with a lot more life. This is where we can enjoy a similar atmosphere Violent Soho make; the atmosphere where you think; beer! The groove creatively changes up throughout, to let the song breathe, making those powerful sections so much more satisfying and the verses swim with anticipating.

A few catchy melodies come out of ‘Happy,’ but it generally sounds like they recorded the song too slow. To be fair, it is the stoner song, clearly defined in the lyrics “You’re only happy when I’m high.” Being sandwiched between songs that hold up a faster tempo accentuates it too, plus the boys seem to just make better music when they’re aiming for a fun vibe instead of a relaxed stoner feel.

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Let’s be honest, when an album or EP has the same name as one of the songs, we’re going to have higher expectations for it. Luckily Shorts whipped up a banger for the final song; ‘Something Else.’ It’s structured a little differently to their other pieces, but these sort of varieties are what makes an album stand out. The vocals are more spacey and not as focused but, with the way all of the instruments interact, it still works so well in a harmonically rich sort of way. I can see this song easily being the most enjoyable to jam over and play to a crowd.

It’s their first official release so understandably, the sound of the band isn’t set in stone. With this release being focused on the song ‘Something Else,’ they are clearly on the right path. Once a bit more of an edgy attitude evolves and after getting comfortable with breaking a few musical rules, hopefully Australia see more of Shorts.