Jukebox Romantics – Fires Forming EP

Before we go any further with this let me get the sad news out of the way first, and after you here this EP you will be just as saddened to hear that Bassist/Vocalist Bobby Edge will have probably left the band by the time this EP hits your ears, what a way to go out though!.  This was originally heading in the full album direction, but as many other artists have also found out, working through a pandemic plays a new hand of cards and you just have to roll with it.

I have to fess up before this review gets going that I did get my copy of Fires Forming a wee while ago, but as things were a little on the busy side, I gave it a skip through and yes I did think initially “ok that’s pretty powerful, but nothing really new”, so fast forward to now, I hit play and my headphones explode with the incendiary bomb that is ‘Time To Fly’, a song that yes is a call to arms (nothing new there), but what it also is, is an of our time line in the sand when it comes to shit politics, it’s powerful and ridiculously fast yet still your able to hear every single word, bass line, drum beat and guitar riff.

What’s so great with this release from Jukebox Romantics, is how this band can be so individual in their sound, yet within that sound you find just about every other band of note that you could shake a crooked stick at, ‘Hey Nora’ swings into action with an early Blink 182 sound that’s somehow tied together with a bass line straight from the Descendents riff book, then before you know it your transported into a studio with the Transplants and Offspring at the controls for ‘Dine Fleisch’ which is by far the best track of the five (and that’s a very high bar), vocals that are as dark as the lyric, heavy and messed up, yet what comes out the other side is a masterpiece in how to hold your listener to every note, every symbol crash and make them know that this is fucking special.

Having built up to such heady heights by track three, what on earth can you do now?, well you could throw in a song title that has me looking over my shoulder for some bald headed 80’s brothers, anyway that’s a whole different story, what ‘You Spin Me (Right Said Fred)’ does do, is shows how diverse Jukebox Romantics can be within the confines of this genre, breaking out the sides with the previous song and now dropping back into the box, although I’m sure there is no box strong enough to hold this band.  Sadly that also brings us to the final track ‘Castaway’, a moment when saying goodbye to Bobbly Edge is like hearing the bell for last orders at the bar, yes you will be back the next day for more beer, but will it taste quite the same as it did today?

A triumph of sound and passion, so many elements within such a short package, Jukebox Romantics have taken all the elements of pop/rock/punk and reinvented the wheel, so many iconic sounds mashed up and thrown out as pure energy and freshness. 

Released 17th December 2021, but the physical copies are now available for pre-order.  3 coloured vinyls that are limited to 100 copies each and include a digital download.

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