EP Review: The Mispers – Dark Bits
2 min read
British alternative-rock quintet, The Mispers, have just released their new EP Dark Bits – and it’s rather good.
The 18-month-old newbie to the musical world combines all the raw, tumultuous sounds of the indie rock genre in a milkshake of awesome. The EP is a vicarious experience of a night out in the city, recounted by lead singer Jack Balfour Scott; a slightly shriller Alex Turner, fuelled by the angst of The Cures’ Robert Smith. Conforming to any alternative rock set-up Scott is supported by the wailing guitars of Diego Porto Belmonte and Hannah Van Den Brul, lightly peppered by Van Den Brul’s soulful violin to give their sound a unique flavor not unlike British contemporaries Los Campesinos.
The EP manages to convert a suppressed sense of melancholy into a nervous adrenaline fuelled by the anticipation of a good night out; which these guys are experienced pioneers in facilitating. The Mispers are infamous for their Missing Til Monday garage parties, attributed as inspiration behind the EP.
The first track Dark Bits sends the EP on a hazy nighttime walk through a busy city marked by “unexpected twists and turns that can lead you to some of the darker corners on a night out”. As a whole, the track is a lengthy, nervous inhale synonymous with having high expectation of a thrilling Friday night be slowly eroded away by reality. The following track, Gold Bits gives listeners the chance to exhale; opening with an almost placid hum of guitars, spiced up by the whispers of Van Ben Brul on violin. True to the indie rock genre, the song doesn’t remain calm forever, building up towards a seemingly momentous climax celebrated by a wave of unruly, edgy guitars.
Similarly, the start of Postman gives you another moment to exhale with the quintet’s instruments playing significantly tamer harmonies. The song boils with the potential to combust in an explosion of fiery sounds like in previous tracks that never eventuates. The final track, Rio acts as the cure to any longing for a ruthless alt-rock rumpus, weaving in more mellow instrumentals and melancholic monologues testifying the bands capacity to explore all the different sound alleyways tantamount to the alt-rock genre. It is this factor that keeps the EP fresh and exciting.
When Forrest Gump told us “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get”, he could have easily also been referring to the Mispers’ new EP (had he time travelled to 2014 and back to actually listen to the EP but lets not get too technical here) in that while the band is quintessentially a beacon of raw, British indie rock – it manages to keep listeners captivated with a multitude of juicy, eccentric sounds.
