Review Summary: With this split, both Touché Amoré and Pianos Become the Teeth do a great job at solidifying themselves as top tier bands ready to write memorable songs/albums.
2013 is here and most of us already have our lists of bands/albums we are waiting to hear new material for. Touché Amoré and Pianos Become the Teeth have been two of the most successful bands at the top of this whole screamo revival, and expectations for their next albums are pretty high from fans at the moment. To quench our thirst for new material, they have both joined forces and decided to give us a little taste of what’s to come in the future with their two song split EP. Two songs clocking in at an approximate nine minutes and thirty-five seconds is kind of surprising to say the least, especially since a band like Touché Amoré are known for their short songs bursting with tons of emotion.
The split starts with Pianos’ track
Hiding. We are introduced with a very mellow guitar melody and vocalist Kyle Durfey calmly singing (which is kind of rare for him),
There’s no good in your eyes anymore, and it makes you want to drive home, drunk and alone, curse the faces in the wheat, drown yourself in the gold because you can’t let it go, makes you almost miss the smell of smoke in your clothes, makes you want to wear the wool. By this time the drums have come in and the guitars are pounding away at your ears, complimenting each other very well and doing a great job at sucking you into the song. Kyle’s vocals work as an instrument to really help bring the song to life as he delivers his heartfelt speech to whomever he may be speaking to.
But you can’t stay angry forever, and I know but you can’t stay angry forever, or so I’m told. But the house gets so quiet, sitting here wishing for just an hour or two, alone with you, well, it’s always too personal, always too close to comment, they all mention how tired you look and you realize you haven’t said a word in hours, well, who’s hiding it, who the hell is hiding it? I guess it’s the things that I don’t say. Pianos shows that they can write solid tracks and the vocalist step just a little out of his comfort zone to try something new.
The second track on the split is Touché Amoré’s well known live track,
Gravity, Metaphorically. The track, like most TA songs, takes no time to get to the point. It starts off with the drums and bass already clashing for a good ten seconds until the guitars and Jeremy come crashing in. What’s interesting about this track is not only that it’s a little over four minutes long, but that Touché Amoré still manage to put in as much energy in a single song, if not more, than they usually do with the extended time. The song itself is very reminiscent in terms of their play style, but they incorporate more of the post-rock elements towards the end when the song climaxes with Jeremy shouting,
It was the first time, in a long time, that I felt alive. At least I tried, and my highest hopes were realized, then it flat lined. At least I tried. I woke up scared, but it’s alright because nothing’s changed. The way the whole song builds up, and climaxes the way it does, goes to show that a band like Touché Amoré have just a little more in them than two minute short bursts of energy.
Two songs, one from each band, is a major tease. However, with this release we see both bands trying something new and growing together as a band even if it’s just a little bit. With this split, both Tocuhé Amoré and Pianos Become the Teeth do a great job at solidifying themselves as top tier bands ready to write memorable songs/albums. As Touché already plans a new album for 2013, and Pianos hopefully releasing something else this year (fingers crossed), 2013 looks like it will definitely be a big year for both bands and I am excited to hear their next efforts.
