Album Review: Lecarla - Silent City

On a night when Kerrang! once again completely misjudged who to nominate and award their ‘prized’ gongs to by missing countless up and coming British bands, new boys and girls Lecarla can sit safe in the knowledge that perhaps by next year their name could be being bandied about in contention. For those who like their female fronted rock to fit somewhere between the twee faux-rock stylings of Paramore and the operatic tosh of Lacuna Coil, Lecarla find a middle ground in some sort of mix between early Four Year Strong and Matchbook Romance.

Immediate stand outs are lead single 'DILLIGAF' and 'This is the Interval', the latter containing the best and worst vocal work on the album with vocalist Lizzy Dent and bassist Nikki Brightman harmonising seriously well before being rudely interrupted by the wildly unnecessary screaming from drummer Steve North. Despite this the song is carried on the strong vocal work and a hook that seems oddly familiar but difficult to fully pin down. 'DILLIGAF', an equally strong track, has shades of Northstar before falling into some more familiar work, perhaps reminiscent of a Senses Fail or Open Hand.

Clearly their USP is the female element of the band, and while some will try to draw comparisons to Paramore there really are no similarities other than the gender of the lead singer. Lizzy Dent has a decent voice which benefits from contrasting from the heavier aspect of the musicianship leading to a juxtaposition that is not often found in British punk-rock.

Luckily Steve North is a better drummer than a “screamer” (which will hopefully become redundant soon) and his work on the whole EP shines, though no-one lets themselves down musically across all 5 songs.

The album closes strongly with the powerful 'Violation', Dent seems to find her voice best on this song and Lecarla as a band seem to become more coherent. If they were to take a signature sound from this EP it should be based around this song. There is some great contrast between male and female vocal lines which differentiates the song and despite an attempt at a “broootal” breakdown which comes across as patently unnecessary it almost pulls it off with some Dent’s vocals working over the top. It does contain without doubt the best chorus on the album, though the outro chorus once again contains ridiculous screams which do detract from the experience. Lecarla are also guilty of including two weaker tracks in album opener 'Cities in the Sky' and 'Obstacles & Runways' but this is nevertheless an impressive EP.

Hopefully Lecarla can iron out some rookie mistakes, like the inclusion of laughable screaming and some inappropriate breakdowns, and concentrate on replicating the highlights; a fusion of pop-punk and hardcore carried by interesting female vocal harmonies and an interesting counter balance in the melodic male line. When Lecarla hit the mark they hit it pretty hard, one to watch.

3/5

'Silent City' by Lecarla is available now.

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Nick Robbins