New York punks One Fell Swoop have been whirling along the paths of productivity this year, releasing a split with Safeliving in March, and now their second consecutive effort. The band’s new four-song EP, titled Last Minute Living, is the second load they have dropped off along the way.
Opener “Found A Bottle” (featuring Sean Huber of Modern Baseball and Steady Hands fame) slips into your conscious with the first few seconds of the metallic guitar lick, unexpectedly planting listeners into vocalist/guitarist A.J. Chiarella’s unsettling register that mirrors the sweeping epiphany of the misfortune of passing time. “Found A Bottle” is an apt opener on the EP, as it musically revives the schizophrenic spirit within the band’s arsenal that was notable on the debut EP, The House Leaks. The song shifts from the paralyzing stun-inducing verses into an explosive hardcore-tinged pre-chorus. The band also executes a reggae-esque mid section with a back-and-forth tilt, which glosses the band in a similar light to RX Bandits that generally encapsulates the width of its musical scope.
Following on, “You’re A Quitter” is evidently more of a collaborative track with the shared vocal duties of Chiarella and bassist/vocalist John Rodriguez. Here, the band's NYHC nuances are present and bare a resemblance to behemoths such as Stray From The Path and Sick Of It All. “You’re A Quitter” is One Fell Swoop's chances to grant some attention to its innate NYHC contemporary roots. The song indulges in the granted attention with a poise and comfort of a younger sibling, finally allowed the chance to gleam from its older punk rock relative.
“April Fool's Gold” is the brightest moment on the Last Minute Living EP, where the band shifts seamlessly from one impressive execution of grasp and control over time signatures to another. Both vocalists within One Fell Swoop hold their post effortlessly; Rodriguez prompts visuals of a subject throttled by the hands of a claustrophobic misery, seizing their hopes gradually. He also acts as the voice and vessel of the victim, lamenting “With my fuck-up keeping me up, I’ve been wide awake... All I do is hold my breath and wait for it to go away”. A cacophony of stabs and jangles then run away with the track to every corner you could comprehend, until Chiarella emerges as the voice of reason in opposition to the initial feral angst of Rodriguez. Chiarella states in a resolved manner, “I’m so pessimistic and cynical; I just want to believe to change for the better, and change for good is not impossible”, behind a wall of bouncy rockabilly-esque shuffle that fades.
“Life Is Short And Random” is a vast contrast to the tacks that precede it, where the band leaves listeners with a jangly indie pop track that expresses the similar thematic concern for the monotony of everyday life that is threaded throughout the record.
Last Minute Living, as the title suggests, is a record that details the natural human response to the occasional drudgery of life. The record will subject you to a sporadic display of cross-genre elements, which the band handles diligently, that express the manic state that the human psyche will withstand as a result of this dooming concern. One Fell Swoop impressively reign in all of these elements (despite their disparity) and craft a cohesive effort, never appearing as veering off too far left or right and continuously keeping listeners engaged.
Tracklist:
1. Found A Bottle (Feat. Sean Huber of Modern Baseball)
2. You're A Quitter
3. April Fool's Gold
4. Life Is Short And Random
RIYL: Fairgrounds, The Traditional, The Resignation-era RX Bandits
Rating:
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