This morning I watched a video that reminded me of a time ten years ago when I thought chain wallets, mohawks and being in love with Jamie Lynn Spears was a good idea. It also reminded me of the glorious days of going to see Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights, Just Surrender, and Fall Out Boy. These were the times when listening to emo meant more than just noodly, verbed out guitars, spoken word, and sad songs. Emo was a beautiful combination of punk, post-hardcore, spoken word, and screamo. I’m happy to say that is still the case with the most recent release from Head North and Microwave. Both bands have put out solid songs showcasing both of their creative and unique takes on emo. Head North comes from a more modern background reminiscent of bands like Tiny Moving Parts and Brand New’s more recent releases.
Meanwhile, Microwave seems to steal the show of the EP taking us back ten years to the early 2000’s when bands like Brand New and Tacking Back Sunday ruled over our iPods, Zunes, and Razr phones. “Thinking Of You,” tells you that you will listen to what Microwave has to say; the drums pulse as ambient guitars float in and out, until you reach the chorus where everything falls apart and distorts in front of you. Awoken from your pleasant dream like state Microwave reminds you of whom you’ve forgotten. Then they perfectly transition into “But Not Often.”. Where you find yourself tapping your toes and nodding your head along to their bouncy rhythms as they recall what seems to be a drunken one-night stand. The only down side of this is that Microwave opts out of adding a new third song to the release and opts to re-release a performance of theirs from the Daytrotter sessions. Despite the fact that it is a beautiful rendition of a fantastic song I find myself wishing that much like Head North they released a new acoustic or at least a song that wasn’t previously released. Despite that I find myself listening to both Head North’s and Microwave’s portions of their Split heavily and loving them. I look forward to what each band will release in the upcoming months and to seeing them grow and add something more to emo than what we keep hearing.
Overall Rating: 4/5
Suggested Tracks: “But Not Often. – Microwave” and “The Bells – Head North”
