‘Noose’ is Downers’ highly anticipated second release of the year, and their time together as a band. The band formed in only early 2015 and consist of former members of Me Vs Hero, MOU and Six Ten Repeater who together ooze a DIY punk attitude and a love for shoe gaze and grunge. Downers first started to make waves in the grunge/punk scene with their release of ‘You Do What You Want To’ and the accompanying video. Noose is a brilliant follow up, filled with more fuzz, a heavier sound, more 90’s grunge influences and shows the bands great progression in only a short space of time.
‘Graze’, opening track on the EP, is a 5 minute nostalgic, fuzzy journey back to the 90’s. The lyrics written and sung by Bobby Pook (ex Me Vs Hero) describe early childhood memories and, if you’re a 90’s kid, make the nostalgia even more prominent. Downers have created a song that although is full of heavy fuzz and shoe gaze influenced sounds, avoids sounding too sludgy and lethargic by defining the drums and using somewhat twinkly guitar riffs within layers of big guitar riffs and dreamy vocals.
‘Erased’ is crisper than Graze, beginning with clean and light guitar riffs throughout the introduction and verses, before the choruses burst back into grunge heaven. Downers are able to switch between the two sounds and sides of the song seamlessly, giving off their own twang but, the meaning behind the lyrics of this song may be more interesting than the construction. Pook based ‘Erased’ on a regular recurring ludic dream about fading from normality to becoming invisible. His fight against this reflects in the song, as heavier and bolder parts include lyrics such as, “I won’t be erased”.
‘Grown Out’ is, at times, the heaviest and fastest track on the EP, but contrasting to this are the elongated, soft vocals that create a dreamy, shoe gaze feel. Here Downers feel their rawest and most free from the pure grunge essence and big riffs that create a powerful punchy song.
‘Noose’ is a brilliant release from newcomers Downers, combining elements of DIY punk, grunge and shoe gaze into their own EP of raw, emotional tracks that give off a great energy. All 3 tracks stand alone as great songs, but come together to form an even greater EP.
OLIVIA DYTOR