Backwash
What a Difference Two Years Make LP
What a difference two years make. Two years ago I was starting my first temp-job in London, having just moved into my first crummy flat. Meanwhile, Backwash were in a happy place according to the lyrics of their title-track.
Two years on, I’m on my 9th temp-job, 3rd flat, and can hardly breathe any more due to poor air quality; Backwash are also wondering what happened to their happy place while begging a girl not to go back to some bloke’s place. It’s all terribly moving stuff (their situation rather than mine) and it gets delivered with an Anglo-American ska-punk-rock-metal flourish.
Other than ‘What a Difference…’, which is a pop-punk track through and through, songs such as ‘With You’, ‘Looks Like We Lost’, and ‘Our Best Days’ see more mixed styles with definite ska moments and occasional nu-metal angsty bits amongst the punk rock.
‘This Forever Feeling’ starts off suspiciously like ‘Hotel California’ but thankfully ends up sounding more like an emo-acoustic anthem, such as Greenday’s ‘Time of Your Life’ or The Early November’s ‘Dinner at the Money Table’.
Backwash want to shove some UK punk back into a heavily Americanised scene (blink-182, Bowling for Soup, Sum 41, et al.) They’ve not done a bad job of this by adding in the ska bits, but I’m not so sure the spirit of punk-rock has necessarily found a champion on this record. Having said that, this is definitely a worthy addition to the collection if you like bands such as Sixty Mile Smile or want something a bit like blink-182 without the whiny vocals.
Written by Smith on
