Review Summary: Prawn get lost at sea
For better or for worse, Prawn have been one of the more consistent groups in the emo revival scene. Utilizing their mixture of The Appleseed Cast-esque post-rock sensibilities and a very mellow pop-punk delivery not unlike Into It. Over It. Prawn have released several several quality releases filled to the brim with mellow, calming, and at times atmospheric vibes. However, consistency can be a detriment when a sound becomes too safe and familiar. This is the case on Prawn's latest release
Kingfisher, which is solid, but doesn't offer anything new.
Prawn have steadily been refining their chops in their rather long lifespan by emo standards (over seven years), and this progression culminated with their 2012 release
Ships. Ships was less raw than previous works, it was catchier, it was tighter, and it had an appropriately short runtime considering how tiring and same sounding this brand of emo can be.
Kingfisher has almost as many standout moments as
Ships, but they're spread out over ten tracks instead of six, and the tracks as a whole have a more homogenized sound that effectively blends all the songs together. Similar to fellow post-rock influenced emo band Moving Mountains' latest release, much of the band's energy and charm is lost when their sound becomes too mellow, too slow, too familiar, and most importantly, too safe.
Prawn are a very strong band with a lot of potential, but at this point in their career, they need to be branching out more. Everything that's good about this record has been done better, fresher, and with more energy by similar bands, and Prawn themselves.
Kingfisher is a fine record by most emo revival standards, but Prawn could have, and already have done better.
