Review Summary: Two powerhouse 3-piece emo bands come together to release a 4 song split. Did they deliver?
Old Gray and Tiny Moving Parts, two powerhouse bands in the emo scene, that had myself, and every other kid jumping on the "emo revival" bandwagon, pooping their pants when they heard about this split. I was not disappointed by any means. I will review each bands respective parts on the split.
OLD GRAY
Old Gray, the band that brought me aboard the emo revival ship. I was surprised when Old Gray opened up with a ambient post rock feeling in, "Clip Your Own Wings". Old Gray can do post rock, but I feel like it was rushed. The song is very short, it has all the makings of an excellent post rock/emo song, but the band didn't give it time to properly build. It all happens to fast to have the real emotional impact they were going for. It is still a good song and has potential. "An Epitaph" sounds more like the old gray people know. I really enjoyed this song, it sounds like a more mature Do I Dare Disturb the Universe. I really dislike the sample they used in this tune. It sits really loud above the mix and it comes in unexpectedly and is very loud. I usually like samples in songs but this sample just did not work, it didn't add anything good to the tune. An Epitaph does showcase that Old Gray is maturing their sound and it sounds really good. The guitars are very well done and the drums are spot on. Crazy and sporadic but keep the beat strong. The screams also sound 1000x better from any other release they have. You can tell he just has a lot more control over his vocals and it sounds much better.
Old Gray did a pretty good job on their part on this release and I would give their parts alone a 3.0. The songs show promise and are very different from each other. Clip Your Own Wings shows promise but isn't given enough time to build and grow. An Epitaph shows a more, mature sounding, Old Gray and any Old Gray fan will like it, but the sample kind of ruins it for me.
TINY MOVING PARTS
Tiny Moving Parts opens up with a refreshing sound that almost sounds somewhat pop punk, in a very light sense. After listening to This Couch is Long 50000 times it's good to hear something different. Something I notice with Tiny Moving Parts' songs is that they all sound very similar, I found myself asking myself if I had heard this song before in This Couch is Long many times. This release is not any different, parts sound very similar to other songs of theirs and guitars feel reused and recycled. Swimming Lessons has it's moments and it sounds really really good! If this is what the new album will sound like then I'm on board. Their sound has just matured over all. Fair Trade starts out really good, again somewhat pop punky. Quickly, it turns into another, "have I heard this before?" song. It sounds very similar to other songs of theirs and I feel like they are scared to stray away from the This Couch Is sound they have established. I feel as if they are holding back. Certain parts in this shine through as something different. For the most part it sounds too similar for my liking and I wish they experimented more with the unique sound they have. I guess we will just have to wait until their sophomore album to see if this happens.
All in all, Tiny Moving Parts have two really good songs but sound too similar to other releases that there just isn't anything new here. The guitars have been simplified down from This Couch Is but not to the point of they were dumbed down. 3.5 for Tiny Moving Parts part alone because even though though sound very similar to other songs of theirs, they are both very well made and are really good songs.
When you put both bands parts together you get a very excellent emo release that I'm sure most emo fans will be jamming out to for a few months. None of the songs are reinventing the wheel, but they are good for what they are. A solid 3.5 overall for the Old Gray/Tiny Moving Parts Split. A good pickup for any emo fan or anyone trying to get into emo.
