EP REVIEW: DEVICES - The Element of Surprise
It’s been awhile since I’ve checked over some music from orgs who are based in Metro Manila’s big 4 universities. And with that in mind, I do certainly know when to set my likes and dislikes aside when it comes to college bands. Some orgs are picking up on the latest music trends and some colleagues of mine wanted to look over of some of their roster of fresh and young bands ready to hit it in their music “scene”. Some make it in the cut and some just fade out in obscurity for their derivative or pretentious carbon copy of music, pegging on the certain level of mediocrity that would later on be forgotten in the next year or so.
A year ago, I discovered a young college (well, right now they’re not so in college since some of them graduated) band from Ateneo De Manila University called Devices (formerly signed in the Ateneo Musician's Pool org). And just to make it short, they’re one of the “katipcore” bands that sprung out in the college scene in the past two years. I liked their latest single “Fool”, which was released last year, the track was a catchy pop single that lingers to moments where you think of later Arctic Monkeys material and it has a colorful choice of synth presets. Their earlier singles before that, well, let me say those songs didn’t really make me say nice things about them per se, but since they were new at the time -- I let these four individuals grow musically as time went on.
A year later and a few gigs here and there, they’ve released their first EP titled “The Element of Surprise”. A 20-minute EP that consists of 5 tracks including a bonus single at the end. Starting the EP is the first track titled “Conquistador”, and to my surprise, this track was an epic opener. The track greets us with a slick guitar tone, drum rolls, and their lead vocalist, Austin, aggressively vie about a conquest for something that you need to find for a long time. The track then builds up to a banging The Killers Hot Fuss era-inspired arrangement as they never sacrifice for another fruity cute-y single. The outro goes all out with the snares going all over, the thin chord progression, and a church organ that was subtle enough to close the track. Their first track, which I think will set no competition for other of their future releases, is one of the best songs they’ve ever released. The second track, “Enjoi”, has this strong vocal melody throughout. The synths and the guitar here have that new wave influence. And the upbeat tone is saved with the vocals, thankfully the voice doesn’t exaggerate nor ruin the mood.
The third track “Keep Me in Mind”, has that great interplay with the synths and guitar. The drumpads here was out there. I don’t know if I should decide if the drums here are necessary if played live or if it’s better if they just perform with a drum machine because the rattling snares already did its job to add that bone that would help make this track stand out on its own. The production in here wasn’t as bad as their earlier singles and the vocals here sounded a lot more charismatic than ever. The last track, minus the bonus single, “TEOS”, was my probably the weakest out of the four, not because it has signs of technical flaw or lack of emotional ability, but it was a slow track that kind of recycles the same Julian Casablanca-type of balladry. It’s weird that their bonus single, “Settle”, wasn’t the closer since it was more competent to be a closer of this EP.
Overall, Devices’ debut showed decent effort to look past their contemporaries of the young up-and-comer type of pop-rock in the local music community today. I mean, “indie rock”? “katipcore”? it sounds nothing like it or who knows who can define that sound? But in the end, other of their peers who are in the same demographic as Devices need to catch up. With that being said, I’m looking forward in seeing them to fully build their direction from here on out. “The Element of Surprise” has a potency to smack other aspiring bands with their songwriting that has actual finesse.
Listen to the EP right here: