The Empty Page – Unfolding
DL
21 October 2016
9/10
Review by Amy Tweddle of We Are Quasars and mylittlebrother.
I like this
album. I like this album a lot.
Ok, before
we get into the music let's get a bit of background...The Empty Page hail from
Manchester and formed back in 2015 (in a cold warehouse apparently).
'Unfolding' is the trio's debut album
and was produced by Gggarth Richardson (Biffy Clyro, Melvins, RATM) - the result is the sound of a band
that wants to get things done quickly but honestly. The trio seem to pride themselves on bringing
back the unpolished, energetic sound that so many records of late seem to
discard in favour of a clinical, over polished/processed sound.
One of the
things that stands out about this album are the topics it shouts about -
gender, body image, representation, and feminism all get a look in - any Riot
Grrrls out there will connect with this almost immediately - the Fourth Wave
may be upon us but in places it manifests the aggression of the Third as it
confidently sticks two fingers up at gender/society's expectations.
'In
Patterns' lulls the listener into a
false sense of security with its soft guitars and catchy vocal melodies
complete with 'na na na's' and handclaps
at the end of the track. Then, out of
nowhere 'Cracks in the Surface' opens
with a yell and a guitar line so angry that you can actually feel the draught
from the speaker as it lets you know that 'you've been eased in gently, now
here comes the kick' - that's not to say that this track is just noise because
it's not, there are hooks aplenty (which
can also be said of the entire album).
Lead single 'Turbulence'
is a gentler affair with a repeating guitar line that gives way to a fuzzed out
chorus - the thing that keeps this track moving is the solid snare popping away while lines like
'will we die here/ will we survive here...determined to find peace in this
turbulence...we are ironclad' snarl and swirl around it - it's easy to see why
this was chosen as the album's lead
single.
'Wardrobe
Malfunction' is possibly my favourite
track off the album -think The Pixies do Britpop (kind of) but add some cathartic
screaming into the mix - this is where
Kel really lets her voice loose - you
can feel the frustration as she spits out 'slip into your uniform and behave,
oh behave!' a line I think every female
can empathise with.
'Yoyo' took me by surprise with a cleaner guitar
sound - 'life's not a fairytale, sometimes the wolf will get you' is repeated more than once but is followed by
the reassurance of you know what? That's
aright 'cause that's just the way it is sometimes - don't worry. It builds well and I kept waiting for it to
take off but instead drops down completely to a handful of looping guitar
notes...this may be my only criticism of the album (and I offer it
begrudgingly) but I think this track may
have served better as a final track, that said, it's still a great track regardless of
positioning.
'Deeply
Unlovable' is a diatribe against labels,
vanity and society's demands on us to fit into their neatly formed outlines of
the 'perfect image'. 'Nothing's ever
good enough...they define us to undermine us...we don't need to play your
game!' may sound obvious but the fact
that we need to keep on shouting this is the reason songs like this exist. Forget
radio A-lists and a certain 'Now' compilation - THIS is what should be
curated for us, THIS is what should be force-fed into our ears on a daily basis
because you know what? We really don't
need to play their game.
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