Waxflower
The Sound of What Went Wrong

Waxflower singer Tristan Higginson says that with this new EP we get: “five anthems for the over-thinker,” and “the EP a brain writes at 2 AM when it can’t sleep – picking apart every awkward moment and wrong turn, all while wondering what could have been." I also read that it is both their poppiest and heaviest material to date, where you should note that they have released one EP before this one, it was released last year. How about that -iest claim, isn’t that a bit meaningless when it only compares with one EP? I think so. Moreover, I like the art and I wonder if the overthinking minds of the band had the same thought about the title that I think they have.

I read that their music is inspired by a time when myspace was the prevailing social media platform, especially for musicians – a bit nostalgic. But nostalgic with a fresh feel to it, only five tracks and sixteen minutes of music so variation is probably not that necessary but they are very poppy and have some heavy moment so they might be right in that claim of being both poppiest and heaviest in the catalogue. The singer Tristan sings with a typical pop-punk vocal style, did I mention that it was pop-punk as a genre? It is. And of course, with a title like that the lyrics are about those funny aspects of life like self-doubt, self-hatred, etc. always an uplifting theme to a story.

It starts great, and continues in a great way with catchy songs, and lots of hit-potential. Despite not really offering anything new or original, or any surprises, it sounds quite fresh. And it is an entertaining little five-track EP that is both accessible and seems to have quite the longevity. I like the opening track the best, mostly because it is a rather perfect opener. I don’t have much to complain about, but one thing that bothers me is the release of EPs rather than albums. Why not just release one album instead of an EP each year these last two? If they released them only digitally and then an album in physical form I could get it, but two physical EPs just produces waste. But true to punk spirit money probably talks as they most likely make more money releasing EPs and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an album with the songs of these EPs soon.

So the commercial aspect bothers me a bit, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Waxflower has made a great EP that is well worth checking out. And perhaps EPs is the sound of WWW…

HHHHHHH