Labels: self released
Review by: Oli Saunders
Many of my friends can’t understand why I listen to music where the vocals aren’t clear as day. I find this baffling, since it’s just never been any kind of issue for me, and presumably you too. Vocals are merely another kind of instrument and sometimes it’s just goddamn essential that they sound all murky, hiding behind equally badly recorded instruments. Why don’t they get that?
I can barely make out any of the words on Late Bloomer’s demo, but it is pretty fantastic. Track one, ‘Disappear’, opens with an audio sample of friends at a gathering. I dunno why but I love stuff like this; it makes the record more personal and reminds you it’s a bunch of friends playing music they love. The demo then bursts into melody, with the trio playing slightly poppy nineties indie rock, with plenty of punk elements in the mix. The ending of the track is phenomenal, with the vocals and instruments repeating over and over for a bit. Best track on the record. ‘Brother’ is also very good, but drags a little. ‘Man In Your Head’ is my least favourite, before ‘Reality’ ends things on a high: with one minute to go they drive things up and I forget about the slightly poorer aspects of the previous songs. Wow.
There’s talk of an LP on the way; if they manage to maintain and improve on this sort of level then it’s gonna be a cracker.
14th May 2012