Band: Last Tuesday/The Evan Anthem
Album: Resolve/Sens Teaser EP
Best Element:
Genre: Last Tuesday: Punk/ The Evan Anthem: Emo
Website: www.theevananthem.com
Label: Mono vs. Stereo (www.monovsstereo.com)
Band E-mail:
Last Tuesday is the best punk three-piece I’ve ever heard. While their quick tempos and danceable strum patterns will appeal to pop-punkers everywhere, their intertwined, dual-vocalist harmonies and unusual arrangements (courtesy of Relient K’s Matt Thiessen working the board) will appeal to those who detest modern punk. This two-song teaser to their album Resolve forecasts good things for the album, as these songs display more depth in songwriting then they have had in the past (hence the unusual arrangements).
“Have You Seen Me?” starts out with classic LT punking, complete with their signature pseudo-mellow section, before adding a piano/vocals piece in the middle of the song. “All These Things” starts out with a piano intro before blasting off into some darkish punk accented by aggressive vocals and a Relient-Kish breakdown. In short, they’re getting better with every release.
The Evan Anthem plays straight-up new-wave emo, minus the screaming. It’s very well recorded, giving this a gritty edge that is lost in most new-wave emo, but it’s still not anything to scream about. And while “Testing” does experiment with some interesting drum patterns, it’s evident that the vocals take precedence when mixing comes into play- so not all emo ills have been remedied here. But then again, it’s catchy, it’s minor, and it reads like a diary- what more could you want? It even includes some nice keys occasionally.
Prognosis: Last Tuesday is awesome, The Evan Anthem is about average. I’d recommend both albums to fans of their respective genres, although Last Tuesday is recommendable to fans of any genre.