Spraynard have recently put out a new 4-song record on Asian Man Records titled 'Exton Square’. If you’re a repeat offender when it comes to the Idle and the Bear website, then you’re probably familiar with my review of the previous Spraynard record ‘Funtitled’, and therefore you’re familiar with the whole “this band sounds like Latterman” stuff. I mean...it was absolutely inescapable. That comparison had to be made, and so it was made by tons of people. The thing I can most easily say about ‘Exton Square’ would have to be that if I had heard this record first, rather than ‘Funtitled', I probably never would’ve said anything about how much the band owes their sound to Latterman or whatever, because I feel as though this new album kind of defines Spraynard’s unique sound and gives us a bit of a notion of how quickly this band develops and progresses their music. I guess this kind of makes this album a crucial part of any solid pop punk album collection, then. Right?
The album starts off with “Can I Borrow a Feeling?”, which is a song that seems absolutely focused on the idea of a cathartic build up being the perfect way to start an album. They’re totally right about this...at least if they were aiming to please me. I’m sure they weren’t, because that’d be pretty foolish. I’m easy to please and my opinion isn’t worth a damn. But if you do think my opinion is worth a damn, you should probably already have this album in your shopping cart over at the Asian Man Records webstore.
Regardless, the album starts off pretty soft and whatnot, and then we’re figuratively slapped in the face with the song “You Can’t Get There From Here”. The intensity of the vocals has kind of gone down a bit since ‘Funtitled’, but it’s definitely an improvement in my opinion. Spraynard’s vocals are excellent and don’t really need the extra gruffness to get their point across. This album gives me the impression that they’ve listened to quite a bit of Harvey Danger. Am I wrong? I don’t think I’m wrong. I could be, though. They could just have the same influences as Harvey Danger. Oh yeah, the second song definitely starts sounding like they’ve listened to a lot of Latterman about halfway in...but I guess it’s kind of unavoidable. Your influences have to be displayed somewhere when you’re standing on the shoulders of giants; that’s just science, Gunther.
Okay, so this album sounds great from start to finish, and that’s a pretty solid reason to get into the band Spraynard. I also had the privilege of seeing them play in Philadelphia at the First Unitarian Church with Classics of Live, BTMI, Captain We’re Sinking, and Mike Park not long ago and I can honestly say that you’d enjoy seeing them live...whoever this is that I’m addressing right here. Why do I write reviews in such a fucking weird fashion?
Okay so, I already posted the link to Asian Man at some point in this review, and that’s really all you need. It’s five dollars and you can totally buy Lawrence Arms shit while you’re already on the website. So I don’t get why you haven’t done so yet.
-Idle
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