Stimulus Package Records – 23 October 2020
Great melodies in times of despair
Cardboard Box Colony is a band coming from North Carolina that mixes traditional skatepunk with technical guitar noodles and melodies you may find on an emo record. Their self-titled EP features four songs that all breath some kind of despair, which sounds exactly what we might need during a global crisis.
Listening to this EP has been an interesting experience. When the first song started, my initial reaction was: “this is fine”. I noticed some familiarity in the singers voice, which I tried to compare to other singers for the sake of this review. A less whiny Tom DeLonge maybe? It also reminded my of Buck Wild, a band I saw live once fifteen years ago. So I put on their record and realized that they didn’t sound anything like Cardboard Box Colony. Then the second song started, and I was still listening on a technical level: trying to find things I like or didn’t like, and making mental notes on what I could write about this EP.
But than the third song “Headstone” came on. This song sucked me right in. I stopped listening like a critic, or a musician, and started listening as a fan of music. The same is true for the closer “What’s the Point in Revolution if We’re Gonna Die?” There is just something about these songs. So I put the record on again. And again. What is happening here?
The band stated in their press release that they started recording in March but put everything on hold because of the pandemic. When they started working on the material again, they changed some of the music and lyrics to reflect our current global situation. The EP definitely has some March 2020 vibes. I remember the despair I felt during this time when everything went to shit and nothing was certain anymore. I think that’s the reason I listened to this EP over and over again. Something just clicked and that something is in the melodies of the last two songs. Would I have the same experience if they put these two songs at the beginning of the record? How did these songs sound in February? I don’t know. I will spin the record again.
Quirijn’s primary focus for TGEFM is on album reviews and band interviews. When he’s not writing for the site, he can be found mixing sound at Fiction Studio, mixing up beats for as one part of hip-hop duo Breekpunt, or playing guitar for punk quartet Ink Bomb.