As itoldyouiwouldeatyou have added more and more members (last count they were somewhere between seven and 10), their sound has progressed and evolved into something really quite special. Following a tour with Cassels, they’ve released their latest five-track EP ‘I am Not Your Fault’ via Failure By Design and Beth Shalom Records. Head over to FBD for the cool-coloured vinyl or BS for a tape.
We’re not entirely sure if the title is a cheeky nod to Good Will Hunting, but we do know that this has an emotional power in line with that film. Opening with the TTNG-style ‘Off Brand’ is a great move. It showcases itoldyouiwouldeatyou’s twinklier side but also makes room for some huge-sounding guitars, delicate synths and off-kilter drums. Joey Ashworth pleads to a loved one that ‘I can’t tell but you look much better when I’m here’ before changing his mind halfway through by declaring ‘I wasn’t myself’ over and over again. Is it about how we sometimes change ourselves to bow to others’ needs? And how that isn’t always for the best… the lyrics ‘you talk to no one else, I’ll talk to no one else, these things just sort themselves out’ seem to suggest so. This is followed up by the popular lead single ‘Get Out of Bed’, a song where Joey talks about his incandescent ways and how – in a style not too dissimilar to Rivers Cuomo – he ‘won’t release you that easy’ from his mind. Mainly melancholic, the bursts of Luke Prosser’s trumpet and impassioned backing vocals make sure this could sit alongside any number of bands from Kevin Drew’s Arts and Crafts label.
‘All that Noise’ appears to let some hope shine through the over-arching sadness. It opens with talk of how ‘I’ll get back into coffee, you get back into me’ and has some delicious hooks and wonderful use of the staple ‘oh, oh, ohs’ (think Everything Everything). This song also puts more emphasis on Kathryn from Fresh’s backing vocals and they’re a fitting contrast to Joey as his voice becomes more impassioned. Clocking in at under two minutes and with trumpet and drums that recall American Football, ‘Less Now’ is an almost incidental piece that could work as a long-form intro to the closing ‘Letters’. It’s this final song that provides the biggest earworm on the EP. Joey sings: ‘My breath turns into steam in front of me. Drunk in a field my friends leave me; I find the ecstasy in fumbling before stating ‘I am not your fault’ and reassuring the person he’s opening his heart to that ‘there’s no harm in forgetting me’. As the song moves on, more band members join in to make their voices heard and it has a huge impact. The song kind of resets itself around the three-minute mark as the band wistfully sing about being 15 again with ‘blood between my teeth’ and ‘asking you to marry me’. It’s here that the song starts to pick up in speed again and as it enters its final throes the enthusiasm (and infatuation?) of the band will leave you breathless.
A real step up for itoldyouiwouldeatyou, this is an EP that finds them staking a claim for being masters of sadness.
Filed under: Album review, EP review, New music, Preview Tagged: Album review, alternative music, Beth Shalom Records, emo, emo music, EP review, Failure By Design Records, I am NOt Your Fault, indie music, itoldyouiwouldeatyou, Joey Ashworth, music review, new music, pop music, rock music