Album Review: Spring Offensive - Pull Us Apart

Spring Offensive’s debut mini album ‘Pull Us Apart’ is so much more than just another indie band skirting around the edges of a scene that’s heard it all before. There’s a real purpose about them as musicians and song writers, not merely forming for the sake of writing within a trend, this 5-piece has a story to tell, and they won’t be hard pressed to find the listeners to tell it to.

Opening track ‘I Found Myself Smiling’ begins with almost whispers above delicate acoustic guitar plucks, like the majority of songs on this 7 track CD it builds, slowly introducing more instruments and layers which never fail to deliver great crescendos, well placed and somewhat unpredictable. Single ‘Every Coin’ is a tale of a man forced to consume the contents of his wallet, however odd lyrically you can’t help but get caught up in the narrative. It dips and dives as each verse surges towards a chorus that strips back the sound, the thumping drums disappear and leave a delicate strum of guitar over slightly whispered vocals, a stroke of pure brilliance in mature and intelligent song writing.

‘The Cable Routine’ is perhaps the strongest track on the album, swaying and building like a swell, telling the story of a man ready to commit suicide, a masterpiece in storytelling. ‘Everything Other Than This’ is yet another tale, of a band on the edge of breaking up. The stop-start flurries really display the energy of the band, and the feelings and emotions of the battle to stay together.

‘Slow Division’ has some beautiful delicate guitar parts which explode at times into a crescendo of crashing symbols and trashing guitars, suddenly fading away into closing track ‘Little Evening’ that feels so soft and subtle after the crashing waves of ‘Slow Division’. This mini album will shock and surprise many listeners, from the first murmurs of the opening tack you are unaware of the journey you have set upon, which is sure to pick up more listeners on the way. You would be a fool not to catch them this summer as they travel around the UK.

4/5

'Pull Us Apart' by Spring Offensive is available now.

Spring Offensive on MySpace

Connor O’Brien