Safari So Good – Every Fight Is A Food Fight When You’re A Cannibal

I couldn’t think of what to say when I started my review for Safari So Good‘s debut EP, Every Fight Is A Food Fight When You’re A Cannibal. It was a hard record to introduce which made me put off reviewing it for a while. Then, for some reason I read my review of Safe As Houses‘ How It Feels To Be Erased. The review, for a record I had completely forgotten about, seemed to be the perfect summary of this brand new EP by yet another band I’m sure I’ll forget about within a few months.

Because just like Safe As Houses, Safari So Good has a few impressive moments scattered throughout the five song EP – just not enough to keep me coming back for more. The songs have an undeniably catchy hook to them, a stronger drum beat than most bands in its genre and some memorable vocal harmonies to boot. A Pirates Life For Me and You Got It Dude both jump at the listener, not with a lot of force but without power to at least grab your attention for the time being; and the acoustic closer, which I guess is a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins‘ Perfect, ends of the EP quite nicely. While I can’t compare it to the original, it seems to stand up rather well despite being rather downbeat compared to how I picture The Pumpkins.

But the deterrent of the EP is that, just like so many releases out these days, there’s nothing to make them standout in the midst of all the other releases available. They seem to have stayed to a somewhat safe path with some pop alongside a dash of emo sensibility and it just seems all too safe, familiar and, at times, bland. Their attempt to create some slightly comedic lyrical matter that is filled to the rim of pop culture references (see Dogs with Bees in Their Mouths Who When They Bark They Shoot Bees at You which is a direct quote from The Simpsons) only goes so far and still isn’t strong enough to leave a lasting impression on the listener.

As it is, Safari So Good find themselves somewhere between All Time Low/Amber Pacific and The Starting Line with the occasional nod to Over It which gives them a strong enough presence while the CD is playing but not a lasting presence. So despite not being ear-bleedingly bad, Every Fight won’t get many plays simply because I’ll forget I own the releases until I accidentally click on this review a year down the road.