Margate – On The Other Side

I love it when bands combine influences I would never consider placing together.  It completely catches me off guard, and makes for a captivating and exciting first listen.  I wasn’t expecting this when I first popped in Margate’s sophmore effort, On The Other Side.  The album’s cover features a colourful, starlit night sky at the break of dawn, easily hinting at something on the power-pop or emo spectrum.  But to modify an age-old saying, you can’t judge an album by its art…

When the first track, “In My Life,” started up, something felt out of place – in a good way.  Sure, the melodies were upbeat and poppy as expected, but they manage to feel fresh but familiar.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it right out of the gate, but instrumentally there was a hint of pop-punk – in the vein of Motion City Soundtrack – but it was faint and meshed together with something else familiar, so I kept listening to satisfy my peaked curiosity.  The following track, “Time & Time Again,” started up slow, contrasting nicely with the previous track’s mid-tempo pace.  That’s when the other influence hit me: Fat Wrech Chords era American Steel.  Vocalist Alex somehow channels the raw sincerity of American Steel’s Rory Henderson, with the harmless pop-sensibilities of Motion City Soundtrack’s Justin Pierre.  It’s an odd pairing of influences, but feels completely natural.

Generally, the notability of their influences is tied to each track’s tempo.  The slower the tempo, the more like American Steel Margate sounds.  The quicker and more upbeat the melodies, the more likely they are to sound like Motion City Soundtrack.  For example, “It Is What It Is” and “On My Side” slow to a comparative crawl, featuring overly pronounced and elongated words in the vein of American Steel.   Meanwhile, catchy, pop-punk hooks propel faster tracks, like “Saved It,” forward in MCS fashion.

The duel influences also shape Margate’s lyrical direction.  The band bounces back and forth between dark, hopeless themes, and sunny, inconsequential pop anthems.  Tracks like “It Is What It Is” use dark imagery to describe personal lows, featuring references to “pain and sorrow” when describing life’s “ups and downs.”  But others like “Believe In Steve” bounce along jovially, singing about care-free, well natured characters like “Steve.”  Based on the variety of topics covered throughout On The Other Side, the band is trying to comment on the ebb and flow of life, or just dabbling in a range of influences.  Either way, the variations are welcome, and provide a nice spectrum of expressivity.

Margate have somehow bridged two typically opposed schools of punk; one dark, serious, and passionate, and the other carefree and inconsequential.  The songs contain just enough charm to avoid continual comparison to their influences, and the album’s reoccurring ups and downs overcome any potential issues of flow or pacing.  Recommended for fans across the punk spectrum.