Larsen are a four piece indie/alt-grunge outfit from Adelaide, South Australia made up of Liam Christensen on Lead Vocals/Guitar, Sam Massacci on Lead Guitar, Steven Massacci on Bass/Vocals and Alex Andrews on Drums/Vocals. Today, I will be reviewing their EP ‘Second Wind’ which was released on 6th August 2021.
‘Eating Me Alive’ opens with a sustained, building note, before some powerful shredding guitar explodes in, quickly merging with some artful percussion. The vocals had a deep, almost mournful quality, which works well with the busy, heavy instrumental backing. Having said that, they also have a really strong melodic quality that adds a lot to the overall track, especially during the harmonies.
‘Overflow’ opens slow, with two sustained notes this time, and soft vocals building, even as the instrumental chords beneath become more complex. I really liked the vocals in this, the mixing for this track is also superb, the instrumental heavy sections, with the busier drum work and the harder guitars, could easily obscure and drown out the vocals, but they are so well mixed that instead it’s a nice back and forth.
‘Pseudo Vacant’ opens with a really sweet guitar line that kicks into a more percussive heavy vocal section. Again, I really like the tonal quality of the vocals, they not only work really well within the context of the song but also are just really strong, and interesting just on their own. Also I like that each track thus far has balanced itself well, vocal sections and instrumentals, harder and heavier parts counterpointed by slower points to create songs which are rich, and audibly textured. I think this was my favourite track on the EP, but it was really close because there’s not a bad entry on the list.
‘Trampoline’ opens with some hard guitar and then it just gets harder and busier, before evening out for a vocal section. This is the first to start off kinda heavy to begin with rather than going slow and then building. I liked the change up especially as we are coming to the end of the EP, it seems the perfect time for a little deviation. I already said that the previous track tops my list for best on the EP, but this for some reason is catchier, and sticks in your head a little more and that should be applauded.
‘Interface’ starts off much like the previous track, hard and heavy, but this is a more percussive driven track, and after the drum led intro, it has some phenomenal bass and guitar sections which show that Larsen pulled out all the stops for the closing track on what has been a whopper of an EP. I said ‘Trampoline’ was catchy, and this one captures some of that as well, not quite as catchy, but it has a nice rhythm and is really memorable, overall just a great song to see us out.
So that’s what I thought of Larsen’s EP ‘Second Wind’ and if you want to check that out for yourself then head on over to Spotify. While you’re at it, make sure and support the band by following them on Facebook and Instagram.
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