Embracing the DIY ethics of their teenage years the Cheshire threesome that are Sonic A.M bring together songs originally recorded back in 2014 with a couple of brand new tracks exclusive to this mini album, entitled “What We Do When We Do Nothing“.
Their name may sound like a radio station but you’re not likely to hear them when you tune in to the drive time hour, they’re not clean enough for that and that’s the way we like it. Having said that the EP’s first track is one of the new pieces “Room to Breathe“, probably the more accessible on offer with jangly indie guitars before the rawness of “Dead End” slaps you round the face with it’s noisey shouty punk influences.
I wasn’t intending to list any comparisons but with “Dead End” and EP closer “Alexandria” the garage/post-punk of Japandroids came to mind (another band well worth checking out, but I digress…) as with many unsigned rock bands, Sonic A.M have made this EP on a budget taking advantage of their young age in being able to make recording sessions whilst in college and such like before handing the final mastering over to Andreas Hammarstrom resulting in a combination of raw recordings but with care taken over the final product.
The two tunes in between those mentioned above also provide contrast with “Other Ethics” being one of the 2014 tracks showing a band in it’s infancy but gets all it’s anger out within a minute and a half, it could easily have been excluded from this release and to be honest wouldn’t be missed but is no doubt important as part of the bigger picture, the acoustic of “Red Brick Houses” however is an unexpected bonus.
Simplicity often has its place, even within the most chaotic of situations and “Red Brick House” delivers the chilled out moment. It’s nice guitars with the lo-fi production being prominent with the subtlest effect on the vocals, I do like this track a lot but it is of course the distorted fuzzy rock of “Alexandria” that is more in keeping with what Sonic A.M are about, after all why else would the album cover have the band rolling around on stage?
Sonic A.M – “What We Do When We Do Nothing” is out 11th August: www.sonicam.bandcamp.com
