Kids Near Water - America Is Waiting - The Coalfield - Split - CD (2005)

Labels: Firefly
Review by: Gareth L

A decent little release here from the UK’s own Firefly Records including 3 bands from 3 countries doing 3 songs each. 3 is the magic number.

Kids Near Water are first up, and deliver three songs of varying quality. Sounding much more post-rock then their first couple of EPs, things get off to a great start with ‘They Are Wiping Us Out’, which drives forward with all the energy that I remember them having in the early days. Their second and third tracks stunt this momentum though, and I can’t help but get the impression that their songs are just a little too long – all the three songs clock in at over five minutes and although this works well with the quiet/loud dynamics of the first track, the other two tracks are less interesting.

America Is Waiting have been on tour with Muse recently but don’t let that put you off. They’re are probably my favourite band here. They have some really interesting moments. ‘Seperation Between’is easily the standout track, where their stop/start brand of post-hardcore in full effect; sounding like something Deep Elm might be putting out round about now. Better than Muse, anyway.

I’d heard the Coalfield before and really enjoyed them; these tracks are slightly less exciting than what I heard but they are still pretty rocking. A reference point would be Million Dead I guess; they have that similar sound but have some weird stadium rock riffs (one in ‘Portrait Receiver’ sounds a bit like Queens of the Stone Age!) and solos that reduces the enjoyment for me. Not too bad though, I really like the singer’s scream.

So, all in all, not too bad. 3 bands with some good ideas that don’t totally work out here.