EP Review: Drifting

Good music takes you somewhere else. It makes your mind wander, changes your mood, makes you feel something. Really good music makes you connect with the musicians who are creating it. Hooks you in, makes you think.

Animal Party make really good music!

This is a new band made up of members from The Jury and the Saints and Lookin Up, both great bands so the guys had some big footsteps to follow in.

Opening track Drifting, starts at a slow tempo but builds and is delivered with a punk intensity and energy. The atmospherics created mainly by the guitars add another dimension that makes you listen and we are now on a journey. Introductions are made, we are connecting.

The EP kicks some serious arse with next track, Weight. “I was born for this!” is an apt opening line as it does seem these guys were meant to be making music together and as soon as the refrain “when we were young” repeats, I am gone, drifting, no actually sinking into the song.

Cobwebs is one of my favourite songs. It made me smile, want to sing, to get off my arse and do something, but mainly made me want to go and see Animal Party live.

Goblin is the most anthemic song on the EP. A perfect mix of space and bombast which would fill any stadium

Years showcases some formidable song-writing talent, the song builds and slows, guitars float in and out punctuated with backing vocals. It’s the music on this song more than the words that hook you in.

A finally we come to Thieves at over 5 mins this song is epic, moody and brooding, almost a ballad until the guitars and vocal hit their peak. It’s emotional but not in a guyliner, floppy fringe kind of way.

Animal Party are taking a mix of musical influences (Lower than Atlantis, At the Drive-in, Million Dead all spring to mind) and creating something else. The vocals are excellent and so is the music. So many bands just sound like a poor version of the bands who influence them but Animal Party stand out and it is going to be interesting to see where they take this. The potential is huge.

4/5