Review Summary: You and me, let's stay forever seventeen
Prom Night in Black and White were a four-piece pop-punk band from Canada who gained a small fanbase of scene kids during the days of Myspace. In 2008, they self-released
This Sinking Ship, their first of two EPs. With only four tracks and a thirteen minute runtime, one would think that an EP such as this by a band that faded into obsoletion along with the social media platform they were most known on would be long forgotten by everyone. However, throughout the past ten-plus years, I have returned to
This Sinking Ship every now and then, for the once heartfelt but now nostalgic musings of Prom Night have always, if only briefly, brought my mind back to a better time.
The opener,
Sweep You Off Your Feet, showcases what the band does seamlessly throughout the EP: transition between sullen acoustic melodies and fast-paced chord progressions and riffs. While the singer, Joel (last names of the band members nowhere to be found), uses evident pitch correction at the beginning of this track and during a few other points on the EP, it never comes off as distracting nor disingenuous; and furthermore, he proves during the chorus that he can belt it out just fine with his Tom DeLonge-style vocals. The second track,
Epic Phaile, is the heaviest song on the EP, and features the drummer leading the way through every riff, and basically popping off the entire song. The band's flagship sad-boy anthem
Flaws in Her Words comes next, and I would imagine that anyone who hears for the first time the harmonizing female guest vocals as well as the catchy but self-deprecating chorus (I can hear the b-b-beating from beneath the floorboards / where she buried all the hearts of her former lovers / I'd give anything to be buried there / just to know what it's like to have her) could understand why this song was always the fan-favorite. The EP concludes with
The Current State, which is a song about being jealous of the guy who is currently with your girl.
Prom Night in Black and White were part of a brand of sad pop-punk that only existed, and perhaps could only exist, during the late 00's.
This Sinking Ship, while not inherently a happy EP, never fails to, at the very least, bring a smile to my face (and at the very most, have me air-drumming frantically to
Epic Phaile). While nothing more than a collection of songs written for and performed by high school kids on the surface,
This Sinking Ship has become a nostalgic artifact for me and possibly a few others who still reminisce about their long lost friends who used to be in their Top 8.
