Album Review: This Year’s Winner Is - In At The Weekend EP

‘In At The Weekend’ is the latest release from Onchan, Isle Of Man five-piece, This Year’s Winner Is. Following on from last years, ‘It Always Goes Down Smooth…’, this new seven track EP represents a marked improvement in production, despite the band’s overall sound being similar to its predecessor. When looking for comparisons, it’s easy to head down the Me vs Hero/You Me At Six route, but This Years Winner Is are more of their own band than those comparisons would suggest.

It seems par for course these days, that if you are a new wave pop punk band (or ‘easycore’ if you like), you must start your EP with a short intro track, which contains chugging guitars and fully states your hidden love for hardcore. That track for This Years Winner Is, is called ‘Raise The Stakes’ and it does serve well as an intro. It sounds good and is ridiculously catchy, guaranteeing that in time you will be anticipating the refrain and singing along with Elliot Kinrade’s heavily-Americanized vocals. The statement of intent of the opening track leads well into the sugary sweet intensity of the next four tracks. ‘Get Up For The Letdown’ and ‘Hey Superstar’ are brilliant pop rock songs, that are guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days. ‘When In Rome’ follows suit, taking its footnotes from Kids In Glass Houses’ summery anthems.

The production on ‘In At The Weekend’ is pretty much perfect, with every instrument and every sung note sounding just as you would expect them to, and with each song being perfectly crafted, praise should be directed to the boys from Onchan. However, they are still a band in their infancy, something that is brought to light every so often with the odd cringe-worthy lyric. ‘First Base In Third Person’ is probably the weakest and most unimaginative track on the EP so the line about praying to God for winning lottery tickets doesn’t really take away from it, but on the otherwise brilliant closing track, ‘Onward To Onchan’, the weak lyrics are a disappointment. That said, it’s still a stonking tune and a brilliant way to close the EP.

‘In At The Weekend’ is full of sunshine-laden anthems-in-waiting that have the potential to soundtrack many a summer memory. As with every early foray there are issues to be ironed out, but considering this is only their second release, ‘In At The Weekend’ is professional and full of promise.

4/5

'In At The Weekend' by This Years Winner Is is available now through Hang Tight Records.

This Years Winner Is on MySpace and Facebook.

Dan Issitt