Rockfreaks.net

Free Throw

Lavender Town EP

Written by: PP on 08/09/2014 23:39:31

There's a type of bands that frequents FEST and is often found on record labels like Count Your Lucky Stars. You know, the one that seamlessly blends together ideas from revivalist emo, post-rock, and punk rock into a very specific type of sound that's often referred to as the Midwestern emo sound. Here's a sneak peek into an EP by one of those bands before they release their full-length in a week or so: Free Throw from Nashville do just that on four-track "Lavender Town" and they do it rather well.

So if you take the emotional charge of early Dikembe material, throw in some post-rock style playful melodies and coarse, halfway screamed vocals in the vein of Castevet, you're a long way in figuring out how Free Throw sounds like. With a healthy dose of 90s style emo in the mix battling against mathy, intricate melodies at relatively high tempos, well you can't really go wrong can you? It's typically basement style punk rock, sure, but those in the know will surely agree with the rapid tempo-changes, stop-start sequences, and the soft/calm vocals that develop into yells that finally break into screams and emotional croons at key moments. It's basically like listening to a shortened and more energetic version of post-rock, because the melodies explore a similar near-cinematic soundscape at times, before exploding into energetic punk rock tracks all within the same couple of minutes. "Now Kith" is probably the best example, because it starts with those quintessential revivalist emo guitar melodies, and halfway through introduces screaming and an increase in volume, before the whole thing comes crashing down into a woo-hoo melody and an emotional cry of "I should've kissed you when I had the chance!!" to finish the song off.

Four tracks isn't much to go by, of course, but Free Throw deliver a convincing case throughout the 12 minutes of music for why you should be on the lookout for their debut album. Fans of Wavelets, Castevet, Dikembe, Rooftops and other tiny FEST-type bands with mathy guitars will feel right at home.

Download: Now Kith, Lavender Town
For the fans of: Wavelets, Castevet, Dikembe, Rooftops, Latterman
Listen: Facebook

Release date 29.04.2014
Count Your Lucky Stars