More Than The Music – 30th September 2012

The title track on Crybaby’s We’re Supposed To Be In Love EP is busting with dreamy guitar riffs that sound as if they could have been lifted from any 1960′s track. Couple this with the multi layering of instruments you get a texture similar (but certainly not as epic) as a Phil Spector song. The metronomic percussion sounds like the same beat taken from Roy Orbison’s track Pretty Woman. The sweet lyrics and pretty refrain of We’re Supposed To Be In Love drips with teen angst and heartache. It is the kind of song that you can assign as a theme tune to your own romantic unhappiness; for any fan of the pop music of the 60′s the opening track is a winner.

A seismic shift takes place between the first and second track; the bubble gum pop from We’re Supposed To Be In Love is well and truly forgotten with Water To Wine. Darker and much more sombre in tone, the track expunges bitterness and sorrow, conjuring images of drinking away your woes in the seedy underbelly of a ghetto tavern; it screams of hopelessness. It is a remarkable contrast from the EP opener that you really do not know what to expect next.

Strangely the third track comes in the form of a cover version. Crybaby’s version of Daniel Johnston’s True Love Will Find You In The End is pretty good. The band sticks close to the original arrangement whilst still stamping their personality to it. However, the polarity between the highs and lows on the EP are unsettling. Meanwhile the final track on the EP, Gloomy Sunday, lives up to its title; it is gloomy to say the least. It has gloomy guitars, and gloomy, lifeless vocals and a slow mediated tempo. The band has excellently captured the macabre mood.

All in all, the EP is a good collection of songs however the rapid shift in mood often leaves you flustered and confused. So much so that they probably would have worked better in a different order, and on a full length album. – Lisa Bentley