Labels: Protagonist Records
Review by: Danny Parsons
For those of you who don’t know, …Who Calls So Loud is one of the three offshoots of the now defunct Funeral Diner (the others being Sterling Says and Lemonade). This being said, one must note that people are always going to compare the two (not always positively) because of the quite epic reputation that Funeral Diner have built up over the years that they were active. I’ll try as objective as I can but I can’t make any promises!
If we consider Funeral Diner to be the ‘daddy’ of instrumental hardcore/screamo (as many people do), then the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as …Who Calls So Loud follows in relatively the same vein as the aforementioned band. This particular release has four tracks in total and the first – ‘Hey, I’m Outside’ – isn’t really exemplary of the band’s sound as a whole. The song in question is electronic and just over two minutes in length and acts as a kind of introduction to the EP. As catchy as it may be, it seems a tad out of place and isn’t particularly in keeping with the sound that the band established on their previous release and the other three songs on this record. Sceptics might label it as an attempt to show their ‘diversity’ or whatever, but I don’t care either way – I just wish it was replaced by another song that’s that is more suited to their genre.
Since …Who Calls So Loud contains the drummer and one of the guitarists from Funeral Diner (objectivity down the drain!) you can expect much of the same sound that they produced – more twinkly, pretty bits though. Even the vocals are quite similar, if slightly more coherant than Seth’s in Funeral Diner. The second track – ‘M’ed Palms’ – might as well be Funeral Diner as far as I’m concerned – although if you’re a fan of them I don’t suppose this is an entirely negative thing. The third track is again, instrumental. This one however is much more ‘them’ than the first track. Nicely layered guitars (electric and acoustic) held together with a twinkly piano section make this a really enjoyable track for me. The final track – ‘Lark vs. Rascal’ – is without a doubt the best track on the EP. The first two minutes are instrumental before everything gets a bit chaotic. Some nice heavy sections replete with screams and wails makes up the main body of the song, but then – you guessed it! – it all goes instrumental for about three minutes (note to reader: long song).
My whinging aside, I really quite like this band; I just think that this release doesn’t show their abilities off to their full potential. In terms of production, it’s great and all of the instruments are crystal clear but it doesn’t really mark much of a progression for the band. Basically, you’d be much better off buying their self-titled double 10″ record in which the instrumental side is more balanced and not so overwhelming.
Good band though!