Drug Church – Swell EP
- Written by Gabriella Abraham
The five track EP entitled Swell by Albany band Drug Church - a name which automatically springs abscess to mind, but may also be a sarcastic play on the feeling of being “swell” - is a well-rounded tape with a mix of different musical moods.
The band explicitly lists Nirvana as an influence, and this is very apparent in the music from the get-go. The husky, semi-shouting vocal style of the band's lead singer Patrick Kindlon sings an ode to Kurt Cobain, making a comparison difficult to avoid. This style remains quite consistent throughout, giving every song a smudge of that grungy feel.
The EP begins with ‘But Does It Work?’, a song that may as well be the orphaned love-child of Nirvana and The All-American Rejects. It continues with a series of songs that sound like they were plucked right out of the sweet pop-punk era of the early 2000s, where life is one big Jason Biggs film.
Lyrically, the EP seeps with frustration. It expresses a post-teen angst that comes with the grind of adulthood. The song ‘Work-Shy’ is a brilliant example of this with lines like:
“If you wanna see me sweat/Well you're gonna need a gun”
The singing style meanders here and there, with a slight tinge of Sid Vicious in songs like ‘MallSWAT’, where the lyrics become a little less coherent, and the focus becomes more on the feeling of aggression.
Sonically, Swell isn't doing anything groundbreakingly new, leaning more towards a nostalgic warmth that’s comforting but also angry. ‘Work-Shy’ is a brilliant mix of calming rhythm that clashes with ferocious punk-ish riffs, while ‘MallSWAT’ sounds like a perfect soundtrack candidate for the earlier Tony Hawk games that you would hear when a mate came around to play PS2. The EP closes on a resolute note with ‘Zero Zero’ - a song that's strangely uplifting but also very defeated at the same time, reminding you once again, that Drug Church is sad, even when the music is happy.
In conclusion, Swell is generally a good tape. It’s not for all the avant-garde heads looking for a new sound, but it’s certainly perfect for a purposeless summer's day spent smoking cigarettes and riding around on that skateboard you haven’t touched for months.