Kissing Cousins – EP2

EPs have it a lot easier than LPs, and at the same time, a lot harder. They have it easier, because with an EP, you don’t need to keep the listener entertained for as long. It’s only a short selection of songs, which normally suits today’s youth full of low attention spans. Sadly, this is also their downfall. Because it is short, they has that much less time to sell themselves to the listener. To convince them to replay the CD, and keep an eye out for the band. Furthermore, if there’s one weak song in the short selection, it could ruin the entire EP for the listener. So EPs are always risky, and sadly, Kissing Cousins‘ EP2 falls short in almost every category.

First off, the most astonishing thing about this album is it’s length. Yeah, it’s only four songs, clocking in at around twelve minutes in length – but it seems so much longer. It just drags on, and on, and on, and that feeling starts right off from the opening track. The song has the same gloomy melody repeated over and over again for the entire duration of the songs; with gloomy, dark, eerie vocals flowing softly over the steady beat; and it becomes boring.

Deadline, Live Without You and Let You Down all sound almost exactly the same, with the same forced vocals chopping in at almost the same rhythm. The distorted guitar works and drum beat all sound too closely too, making it seem yet again even longer. And really, by the time you get by the second track, you are ready to throw this CD away and never listen to it again. Then, suddenly, it picks up from out of nowhere.

Act Of Birth, the third track and saving point of the entire album, is simply a fantastic song. The piano driven song is such a change in momentum and attitude from the rest of the album that you’re blown away. The soothing female vocals (by the way, it’s an all girl band) flow by smoothly and powerfully. It still has that dark, brooding feeling to it, but it somehow becomes more enlightened, like the light at the end of a tunnel. Sadly, they then go into the closer, Let You Down, and you are once again brought down into despair at the hands of a predictable, boring song.

Yeah, it’s their second release, but to date, they’ve only played a total of eight shows. That’s not nearly enough if you want to perfect you’re writing skills. So if they hit the road and start writing more songs likeAct Of Birth, I may listen. But for now, the EP failed to convince me that the band is worth my time, or yours.