Reviewer: Robert O’Connor
Last year, Tuam band The Ralphs released their first single Waste of Time, which earned them excellent reviews for their unique style that seemed to blend American Country with The Clash. Now they’re back and ready to grow on Waste of Time’s success with their brand new EP, 21st Century Window.
The title track, 21st Century Window opens things up with a poppy, musically upbeat style that unfortunately offers little to compare to Waste of Time. The sound is too watered down with monotonous indie riffs and structures, The Coral style boppy-ness and a catchy, yet unfulfilling chorus that becomes tiring before it finishes. Merchants Road again follows this trend with the vocals now sounding overly forced and unnatural for the singer. Not a fantastic start but we’re not finished yet.
W.I.P introduces some raw, gritty guitars into this EP bringing a welcome boost of energy with them. Not a radio friendly hit by any means but bursting with the heavy punk attitude we’ve been waiting for since the EP began. Follow up song, Electricity goes back to the style of 21st Century Window and Merchants Road but drops the borderline ska attempts and you finally get to hear the band achieve a simple, catchy radio worthy song.
Somniphobia (apparently a phobia of going to sleep) finishes the EP off on a positive note. Like 21st Century Window, it jumps around from one structure to the next and has a lot of space to fill but manages it well. One feeling you can get from this bands material is their live presence. There’s so much going on in all the tracks and so much bounciness that would go down very well in a live setting. As for this EP, 21st it may not contain enough A-material to score them the big time but it’s a step in the right direction.
Listen to 21st Century Window now @ Bandcamp