EP Review: Bury All The Lies

Auckland based band Rumour City are a fairly new occurrence. As of 2019 they have a handful of gigs under their belt and a debut EP. It’s hard not to catch a contact high of excitement from this group; you can feel the enthusiasm bursting out of every post and photo they share on their social media. That excitement extends to the contagious and exciting pop-rock material on Bury All The Lies.

Bury All The Lies is a snapshot of a band beginning to put into action a very clear vision of where their sound is heading. The first track, Find Your Feet certainly gets its footing firmly in the pop punk field, with tight percussive chords giving way to a head bopping rhythm and a catchy melody. Vibes akin to the knee jumping of a Paramore song give way to the syrupy air of a pre-chorus vocal melody that begs singing along to, much like the chorus hook: “Find your feet and you will find your way.”

Centerpiece Coming Back For More has a strong, defining bass line and an attention grabbing lead part in the second half of the chorus. The compositional elements of this song are more involved than the previous track, playing more with the push and pull of different instruments and adding texture to the margins of the sonic space that sometimes get left bare by the production. At times the vocals have a hint of Debbie Harry in their self-assured swagger. Rumour City prove they have a knack for really good bridge build ups, bringing up each instrument to join the vocals gradually and creating some hefty anticipation for the last chorus.

The standout song of the EP is The Fear, which has a killer intro riff playing distorted notes against each other. It feels a little further down the hallway of a developing sound than the other two tracks on the EP. The players sound like they are settling into their roles and getting a feel for where they overlap and complement each other. The drums provide some really tasty subdivides in the pre-chorus and the sustained guitar leans out of the song against the poignant last lyric, “this isn’t what I wanted”.

Rumour City make their debut with a compelling and succinct bite sized sample of their energetic sound. By the end of Bury All The Lies you can see a hint of the new places they might take their music in future releases and as a convincing invitation to go compress your spine and test your knee cartilage at one of their gigs, it’s a great success.