UK band AS DECEMBER FALLS was formed back in 2014, and have chosen the DIY approach to build a career ever since. With one album top their name and a second album to be released this coming summer, the band chose to do a PR campaign this year, giving away a limited set of copies of their initial 2016 EP “When You Figure Out You’re Wrong, Get Back To Me” for those who were willing to cover the cost of postage. As I was intrigued by this campaign I decided to have a go.
Pop punk isn’t a style of music I’m all that familiar with, and due to that not all that fond of, and due to that I was curious about what this band had to offer. On the opening two cuts I found them to be rather as I expected, with the lead vocals dominating with tight support from the band, building from a sparse verse opening, adding power and then shifting to a jubilant, positive harder hitting chorus. Rinse and repeat with a slight bridge tossed in along the way, clocking in at just over three minutes. Strong vocals, well performed and produced, and tight material to boot. The use of what I’d describe as melodic overlays, a guitar driven motif on the upper end of the arrangements, is an ongoing feature, and whether by accident or design this feature occasionally gave me a slight post-rock vibe. Excellent stuff for pop punk fans I surmise, but nothing that really grabbed me on a deeper level I have to admit.
The following three cuts are all more worthwhile creations though, at least as far as I’m concerned. A few more twists and turns with the arrangements are presented, the instrumentalists get to be a touch more expressive, and the songs as a whole just strikes me to have more content, more depth. Not always up front and dominant, but often more subtle and careful details. The piano is given a role here, some acoustic guitar adding delicate details there, a few more starts, stops and left turns along the way, but all the while staying upbeat, positive and vibrant too. While not exceptional for a listener like me at least these would be songs I’d expect many fans to be fond of, because they offer a bit more and strikes me as creations with a stronger longevity factor, providing more details to get to know and get to be familiar with on repeated listens.
While pop punk isn’t really a genre that typically excites me, I do find that this initial EP by As December Falls provides me as a listener with some nice content. The final three cuts on the EP would be the ones I’d recommend to those curious about the band and their qualities, while the opening cuts strikes me as fine examples of what I’d expect to hear from a band that describes themselves as pop punk. A fine little introduction to this style of music at first and then the specific qualities of the band are presented in a bit more depth after that – in my opinion at least.
My rating: 72/100
