Seemingly taking a leaf from fellow Brit rockers A, Leicestershire band MY AWESOME COMPILATION have opted to base their sound on American rock and in particular the snotty emo/punk of Green Day, Blink 182 et al. ‘Actions’ is the debut album from this 4-piece, comprising of two braces of brothers, Darius and Woody Cobb and Chris and Andy Driver.
The first tiresome aspect of their music is the ‘easy to spot’ vocal inflections and use of harmony on every other lyric line. The second tiresome aspect is the familiarity of their melodies and arrangements that lack any signature or individuality. From opener ‘You Need Discipline’ to the obligatory acoustic closer ‘Awake’ (that sounds like its lifted wholesale the backing track to Blink 182’s ‘I Miss You’) this is a depressingly obvious collection of songs that frustratingly are immaculately put together and well executed but have virtually no originality to them whatsoever.
Yes it’s catchy, yes it’s laden with hooks and yes it’s tuneful. But that is just not enough these days – certainly not for this listener anyway - and constructing such a well-groomed folly to their influences merely serves to make the whole listening experience more tedious and the focus of my disappointment more pointed and barbed. Their saving grace is the fact that they seem slightly less miserable than most emo bands and there is a positive undercurrent to their lyrics that manages to register outside of the humdrum music.
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There are also fleeting snatches of musical interest: the piano refrain on ‘What You Do’ and the opening riff of ‘Asking For Trouble’. Still, it is scant reward when placed in the context of the album as a whole.
Guaranteed to never grace any ‘awesome’ compilation I’ll ever make.
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