Scrappy post-punk trio Several Futures have burst onto the scene with an EP that's sharp, quick and hits like a drunken jab to the face. While the EP title implies existential melancholia, the songs don't waste any time moping, instead preferring to fight with a hard-hitting sense of urgency with crazed riffs, fast drums and Jonny Bunce's tense, spoken vocals.
With songs that range from a scant 93 seconds to six-and-a-half minutes, the six tunes on Narrative Collapse demonstrate a band who know their niche but also like to switch it up, whether through song structure or brief bursts of math-rock time signatures. The EP's longest, "Heroic Phase," is by far its strongest, starting with slumbering, sludgy guitar parts that quickly speed up into a whirlwind of robust riffs with a nice dab of harmonic vocals in the middle. Treading the line between contemporaries Cloud Nothings and classic post-punks Joy Division, Several Futures keep it fresh with a shifting compositional sensibility.
(Independent)With songs that range from a scant 93 seconds to six-and-a-half minutes, the six tunes on Narrative Collapse demonstrate a band who know their niche but also like to switch it up, whether through song structure or brief bursts of math-rock time signatures. The EP's longest, "Heroic Phase," is by far its strongest, starting with slumbering, sludgy guitar parts that quickly speed up into a whirlwind of robust riffs with a nice dab of harmonic vocals in the middle. Treading the line between contemporaries Cloud Nothings and classic post-punks Joy Division, Several Futures keep it fresh with a shifting compositional sensibility.