I haven’t been listening to Banks Arcade for that long, but they never fail to surprise me. Bands out of Australia are quickly climbing to the top of my favorites list. Trio Joshua O’Donnell, Harley Jones, and James Feeke first gained popularity when Banks Arcade releases a cover of SAINt JHN’s “Roses” featuring their signature combo of hip hop, pop, metalcore, and electro.
The first track off of their new EP is no exception. The title track “Alive” brings me back to my pop punk/emo roots. It’s rougher around the edges in the best way. Especially in the lyrics.
The band went a little darker for their previous EP DEATH 2. A MUSE is a continuation of that EP in a slightly lighter-sounding package. I say lighter sounding because the content of the tracks is incredibly deep, but the sound has a slightly more poppy, dance-like feel. “A Muse follows on from DEATH 2 in a much more vulnerable way," the band shares. "It covers a lot of personal issues from relationships to internal struggles and in each song I tried to speak with my own voice as much as possible as opposed to the more abstract stuff on DEATH 2."
The two Eps are similar, but also very different. It almost feels like the two could be combined into a single album. I’m glad they released them separately. In a way, it emphasized the band’s versatility. I’m very curious if they’ll play the EPs in order live or mix it up.
For me personally, a band’s vulnerability in their music is the difference between me liking a band and really loving one for life. I think a lot of bands are afraid to be fully vulnerable in their music, but the connection to their experiences and feelings are what I thrive on.. I love that Banks Arcade do it (seemingly) fearlessly without sacrificing all of their influences. A MUSE puts all the band’s influences, which in my opinion can be a tough combo to execute well, but when you here A MUSE , you can instantly tell they’ve done it well with the perfectly placed synths, griding guitar and basslines, and catchy melodies. All of that and I also want to bang my head to it. A recipe for a band about to get a lot bigger.
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