Review Summary: An interesting debut LP despite lacking singularity
Despite sharing three members, Code Orange and Adventures are decidedly different bands. Whereas the former is the aural equivalent of violently tearing someone’s face off, the latter is like giving them a hug instead.
Supersonic Home, the debut LP for Adventures, essentially acts as a release for the Code Orange members, allowing the band to display emotions that go beyond their regular, relentless hardcore and explore a sound more orientated towards 90’s indie rock and emo.
That’s not to say that Code Orange and Adventures don’t share some similarities; for example, the track “Heavenly” is heavy on the bass guitar, much like some songs from
Love is Love // Return to Dust. But while the bass in Code Orange is used to add to the total annihilation, the bass on
Supersonic Home adds a warm texture to the tracks. Such could also be said for Reba Meyer’s vocals; whilst they could be seen as slightly offputting with their nasal and slightly sour nature, they suggest gentleness and softness like on the song “Tension”. The clear production on this album sheds the wintery tone of their two previous EPs (
Adventures and
Clear My Head With You) and opts for a blissful, summery tone instead, aided by the sweet vocal harmonies/hooks and clean guitar riffs (i.e. “Absolution, Worth Requited”).
What Adventures unfortunately lacks is anything particularly new and refreshing. There’s not much on
Supersonic Home that makes them distinguishable from groups such as Belly or Pavement, and most of the tracks sound deceptively similar to the softer cuts from
Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness. The loss of the fuzzy tones from the band’s last EPs also means that the band is missing a unique touch to their music.
Overall however, this is a worthwhile debut from Adventures. In spite of relying slightly too much on their inspirations, the band has created a blissful record of catchy indie. It’s certainly a very welcome departure from the sheer ferocity of Code Orange, and shows a band that is capable of creating solid records in more than one genre.
