EP REVIEW: Pallow-Confined

Our alternative connoisseur was sent on a mission; go to Bandcamp and pick something interesting out and he has done just that. This is his review of Confined by Pallow.

Let it not be said that I'm stuck in the past and can't review anything by a band I have no prior knowledge or experience with. During my midnight trawl through Bandcamp, partly so I don't have to review the new Viet Cong album and burst everyone's bubble on that one, I came across something very interesting indeed; an EP under the name Confined-Pallow. It was initially the artwork that struck me. In the sweet-shop that is Bandcamp's alternative section, it takes something special to stand out and this artwork was just eye-catching and intriguing enough for me to give it a click. Boy am I glad I did.

   This EP is an interesting blend of shoegaze, slow-core and free jazz in some places (or that could just be sloppy drumming, you never know sometimes.) The album opener, In Wait, is one of the most satisfying alternative/shoegaze tracks I've heard in a while. It opens with these plodding, dark guitar parts that build with light percussion, synths and over-driven bass into a powerful wall of noise with this lovely warm distorted low end and beautiful melody played so gently above it, almost tiptoeing above the mix. The vocals are a classic shoegaze affair, as they are throughout the entire EP, just melding well with the music which is obviously the main focus of the song. That's not to say the vocals are bad, in fact fans of Thurtson Moore or even Brann Dailor from Mastodon will have no problems getting into the dual melodies of Jason Combs and Connor McFall. If there's one thing in particular I like about this release, it is the way the songs can build up over 2 or 3 bars and just drop out instantly and start again. They can go from these really gruff, distorted shreds, back to being really chill at the drop of a hat. It's really interesting and I think it is definitely one of the bands biggest strengths. I would love to hear it expanded on more as the band finds their sound and I hope other bands latch on to this technique because it is definitely not used enough.

If I do have one major problem with the EP then it unfortunately is how sloppy and poor some of the drumming is across this album, especially in the final track Inward. Don't get me wrong, Inward is a great track but the drumming just feels a mess, bass drums are all over the place and just no discernible rhythm. It could potentially be in a time signature I'm just not picking up on, it was late when I was listening and I apologize if so, but it just feels like it lets down an otherwise solid release.

Closing words on Confined; I liked it. I enjoyed my time listening to it, it was very interesting, very chill and it felt very fresh. I love the sort of weird shoegaze revival that seems to be going on right now and I can't wait to hear what these guys do in the future because I believe that they have a lot of potential and I reckon you should make an attempt to check Pallow out.

This EP is available on Bandcamp:
 http://pallow.bandcamp.com/album/confined

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R.Sweeney (@TheCautiousCrip)