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LOVELESS
www.weareloveless.co.uk
London-based quintet LoveLess have crafted some easy listening, pop-rock tunes, loaded with agreeable melodies in each and every bar of music; however, it's all a little too 'nice' and 'safe'. Think pop-punk pastiche with elements of watered-down alt-rock and that's basically all this uninspiring mob offer. The compositions are characterised by tried and tested genericism so there's a pronounced "heard-it-all-before" vibe to their music. As such, this EP kind of washed over me, rather than providing an emotionally engaging stimulus. Songs are 'pleasant' enough, but lack any real bite. Ambition and innovation take a backseat, in favour of inoffensive, mainstream-baiting persuasions. Hooks are aplenty, and well posited and executed within the songs, although the effect of these are, ultimately, abated and lost within tracks' affectively bland underpinnings. So we're talking more nooks than hooks.

The vocals, while generally in key and likeable enough, veer into whiny territory during certain passages and become a little too grating for my tastes. They also sound over-processed in the production with some kind of over-zealous Pro Tools shenanigans rendering them a tad false-sounding, rather than resulting in a naturally flowing voice. I'm unsure if it's a corollary of the production or actual delivery (probably a combination of the two), but singing sounds zapped of all emotion (or, at least, emotional variance).

On the plus side, the production and mix are good, if a little clinical, plus it's just an EP so it's not an album's worth of blandness. I'm sure some insular-minded 14 year olds will adore this... maybe that's LoveLess' intended demographic. If so, I wish 'em the best of luck with the kids. For the rest of us, there's no sonic wool-pulling over our eyes; there's way, way better out there for this kind of commercial edged pop-rock, punk pap.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Riverjuke
EP
HOLLOW FAITH
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Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
18:33
RELEASE DATE:
22nd June 2015
TRACK LISTING
1) Misery
2) The Lonely
3) Pins and Needles
4) The Reality
5) Victim
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"Think pop-punk pastiche with elements of watered-down alt-rock and that's basically all this uninspiring mob offer."
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