Last month I reviewed the single Forget What You Heard from these guys, and now I have the four-track EP from which it was taken. {Masslands} started as a project between Jacob Tait of {Orphic Décor} (who I also recall reviewing last year) and Mason Blair of Highway Goth, but as they started to build up steam, they were joined by the rhythm section of Orian Green and Ben Liley and this is their debut EP. I really enjoyed the single and wondered what they were going to produce in a longer format, and I am glad to be able to report that the promise of the earlier release has been fulfilled with this. Masslands are a band who are probably best described as independent, and one can certainly imagine them coming out of the scene at the same time as the likes of Oasis and Blur. There are four songs here, and while they are all rooted in the vocals of Mason, they are combining many different influences so no one song sounds like the next.
There is a real strength in the arrangements, and they are not afraid to bring in keyboards for some lightness, change the guitar attack from solid riffing to something more melodic, or even approach music from an almost acoustic standpoint. The production is sublime, with some wonderful reverb which creates an atmosphere which draws the listener in, while I mentioned previously that on Forget What You Heard there is some guitar which is heavily influenced by The Edge. They have a base in indie/alt rock, and then use that to spin out into different styles so one never knows where the music is going to lead or what is going to happen next. There are times when it sounds incredibly dated, especially with the vocal style, and others when it is right up to date, and they would happily play alongside a pop punk outfit, something heavier, as well as something lighter, while opener Feel You is far in line with singer/songwriter with some touches of Neil Young. I certainly hope these guys are going to find their way up to Auckland in the near future as that is a gig I would enjoy going to see. This is certainly something to investigate.
Rating: 7/10
