Back in July 2014, when reviewing the Annabel and Dowsing split, we questioned whether we’d hit a tipping point with the so-called ‘emo revival’. It felt as if bands and labels were rushing to put out another vinyl regardless of the content or the strength of the music. With this in mind, and for the sake of consistency, we do have to level the same criticisms at the Have Mercy and Somos split 7”. Both are excellent bands in their own right and we can also rarely fault the work put in by No Sleep Records, however this 7” seems wholly unnecessary at times.
Baltimore’s Have Mercy are first up with a live acoustic version of ‘Two Years’, a track which appeared full band on their Hopeless Records debut. They’ve then contributed a cover of Jackson Browne’s ‘Somebody’s Baby’ which is light and melodic. Both tracks are well performed and beautifully sung but certainly aren’t strong enough to convince me to buy yet another record.
You’ve then got Boston’s Somos contributing a new track, ‘Streets Upon Streets’, and then their own acoustic version of ‘Domestic’. Both tracks are a good listen but only really serve as a reminder of how much we loved their ‘Temple Of Plenty’ debut record. Their debut is a record that’s full of character, littered with likeable imperfections, and backed up by huge vocal melodies. You hear the same here but it’s fleeting and over all too quickly.
This isn’t intrinsically a bad record – you’ve got two enjoyable bands trying something a touch different. It just feels like two acoustic tracks, one cover track, and then one new track split between two bands is an odd mix to build a new release around.
TOM BECK