by Tim Crisp (@betteryetpod)
Seacoast’s Notches have been holding the pop-punk flag firmly in place in New Hampshire since getting started in 2013. The band has worked with many of the genre’s tentpoles, with releases on Dead Broke Records and Hip Kid to name a few. Now they’ve partnered with the stalwarts at Salinas for their second LP, Almost Ruined Everything, and we at Post-Trash are pleased to share the record’s first single “Perfectly.”
Ezra Cohen’s open chords and arpeggiating accents sit on top of a vigorous drum roll from Dante Guzzardi and Zac Mayeux’s active, grounded bass. It’s a mid-tempo number but one marked finely by players who take advantage of the space. Cohen’s vocals come in large as the band quiets down for a slightly melancholic delivery, “It’s like a song in a dream and you don’t know what it means / I’ll give you love or anything, give me partial attention” before the band kicks back and into a gem of a chorus. The alt-rock radio influences are abundant—one can’t help but try to guess what each member’s favorite track on Come On Feel The Lemonheads might be as you bob your head along—but the band smartly moves quickly from part to part, never allowing the track to get tiresome. With its ending comes the invitation: play it again (and again).
Almost Ruined Everything is available for pre-order on LP from Salinas.