Fair play to these New Jersey boys for scrapping autotune and triggers and making and recording an EP that’s organic and natural-sounding. Way too many bands rely on producers layering the crap out of their sound, often with all kinds of unnatural sounds, and so while I can’t say Breathing Blue are my new favourite band, I can say they have my respect for trying to do things the old-fashioned way.
This self-titled six-tracker doesn’t really remind me of any particular bands as it’s a little all over the place. The bio claims it’s for fans of Mute Math, Circa Survive and Paramore but I don’t hear any of that in BB, certainly not the latter. There are understated chorus, strong vocals, off-kilter time signatures and interesting guitar riffs. It comes to a head on ‘Chase The World’ which has the strongest chorus and the closest thing to a catchy hook as the band write. It’s not exactly new, but it’s done in a refreshing way.
‘Real Eyes (Realize; Real Lies)’ is another strong track but not as instant, and that’s a theme that runs through this EP. Breathing Blue could have taken the easy way out and thrown autotune all over this record to make it sound ‘bigger’. But they’ve written and recorded an interesting EP that’s vibrant and clever. It leaves you finding more with every listen – and during a time where lowest-common denominator music is at an all time high, that’s no bad thing.