One State – Migratory Patterns

With their debut, three-track EP, Migratory Patterns, UK punk rock quartet OneState prove that all you need to make a splash is few solid tunes.  Melding part pop punk spunk with an infectious body-pulsing rhythm, the three tracks serve as a defining mission statement for newcomers like myself with no previous exposure to one of Bristol’s little known, unsigned talents.

Migratory Patterns opens on the relatively safe note of “Latin Square,” eventually hooking the listener by album end with sonic evolution playing out “Back To Your Class.”  “Latin Square” takes an aggressive mid-tempo approach, punctuating the steady wall of stop-n-go guitar with breathes of assertive melodic curtains.  The machine-gun lyrics fly with social accusations and critiques of western society, throwing in allusions to Caste Systems and keeping the rest dynamic enough to force listeners to forge connections on their own.  “Scar Song” and to a fuller extent “Back To Your Class” roll out a bassline dub-step groove that do some serious memory tricks.  The latter in particular features a mellowed out two minute long instrumental cool down that had be bobbing my head from the get go.  Experimental without going too far from the shore, OneState tries more in three songs than many bands do in full albums, distancing them from their stagnant peers.

Migratory Patterns sets up OneState as a promising talent brimming with potential.  Part punked up rock act, part cool dub groove, let’s hope that Migratory Patterns is a sign of what’s to come forOneState.