Review Summary: What would happen if Tera Melos liked Screamo? A stupid idea. Oh, here's Smallhouse.
When someone utters the phrase "Bands from the South", the general populous thinks of the same types of bands typecast to that region; Southern Rock and Country bands. Obviously, the entire makeup of bands are not as such (at least not entirely). Said portion of the U.S. has had numerous musical ensembles, ranging from Progressive Metal act Baroness to Post/Math Rock forefathers Slint. Like Slint, Smallhouse are a native Kentucky band not content to aligning or conforming to the music scene in which they are based (or any other scene, for that matter)
As most of you might have postulated, Smallhouse are classified as a Math Rock band, though that title is not entirely deserved. The easiest way to describe their sound is if Stuart Smith of This Town Needs Guns fronted a much calmer and focused Native, while conversely deciding to scream sans sing. While that description isn't entirely accurate, it does form a good basis as to what the songs sound like here. Energetic, fast and fun with rhythms and tempos changing on the fly as this duo sees fit (and yes, I said duo). The obvious lack of bass is filled by Jazzy drums and comfortably low end leaning guitar tones, with added fingerstyling a la Tera Melos that make you think their really is bass on these tracks.
The songs that make up this 14 minute EP are all similar. Well, in vibe at least. Opener "Let's be Good, Okay." explodes with thin, yet huge sounding guitar and immediately speeds up to a Punk style pace, before going back to the first formula for the verse. Other tracks "Friends Don't Let Friends Have Friends" and closer "What's In Kansas?" start in similar fashion to the first part of the opener, but instead of becoming fast breaks, they become slow and melodic, respectively, before going off in separable tangents. "Bring Petey" and "Fortress" are the interlocked instrumentals leading to the end and are a pleasant, if somewhat repetitive break from the unorthodox vocals.
As mentioned before, the vocals are entirely made of screams. This is the main factor which can make or break the band for some. Because of how misplaced they seem against the offbeat and carefree, one wouldn't be too far out off their way to write them off as a bad mix, the most obvious and shocking being their first appearance on "Friends...". They strike the user as being almost ironic, truly as if they were from another song. Luckily, the vocals straighten themselves out very quickly and then completely make up for it with the climax of the song, being both emotional and frenzied, as do most of the other songs with them.
Though there are faults with this debut (as with most), the good far outweighs the bad. Any fan of odd, unorthodox and fun music that doesn't care for anything other than their love of technical, heartfelt music will most likely enjoy this outing. Even if the vocals aren't palatable to you, persevering will yield some good times, as this is a great string of songs to listen to during summer drives. Smallhouse is relatively unknown, but this album is on their bandcamp page if you're interested. Lastly, they're a two piece that likes Tera Melos and Between the Buried and Me. If that isn't worth something, it should be. http://smallhousebgky.bandcamp.com/
