Marriage Material

I like this Making the Worry Worth It record. That should be all a review needs, right? 

I say that in part because this 9-minute EP is all over the place, style-wise. Marriage Material is a new group with members of Summer Vacation, Spokenest, Pinned in Place, and God Equals Genocide. It has some similarities to those bands, but each of the five songs really has its own sound. Opener “What Can You Say” has that God Equals Genocide brevity/punch with a little more melody in the vocals. The next song, “Left Me Waiting,” is even more melodic and in something of a Pinned in Place vein. Then it gets more unique on “Soggy Sock Town,” which starts off with a hypnotic rhythm a la The Blind Shake that morphs into minimal noise-punk at the halfway mark. Then the last two songs go bigger on melody again with an easy singalong nature. In addition to the namedrops above, there are some atonal post-punk moments and a heap of quirky pop melodies.

This is a pleasing EP, even if it jumps around a bit as it shows its influences. With elements of quirky pop, singalong melody and minor chord changes I’m intrigued to hear where the band goes from here.

7.2 / 10 — Loren