This Aussie quintet have made their name in the pop-punk scene within the past few years with their well received 2021 album Armageddon, tours alongside heavy hitters such as Knuckle Puck and Real Friends and selling out venues across the UK. That successes doesn't really translate to this record.
Their first fully independent release post-Hopeless Records, SH!T YEAH is a collection of songs most energetic, but lacking in any real original substance. The first half of the EP features the majority of the singles released previously, including a collaboration with Knuckle Puck on the first song ‘Kill My Vibe’. Vocalist Jake Wilson embodies the feeling of experiencing young love and bitter breakups as a youth by featuring lyrics such as “if I had a penny for you every time I said the wrong thing and you start a fight”, and other acclamations mostly reserved for the back tattered teenage notebooks. The buzz words Kill My Vibe are repeated in the verses and choruses to create a typical pop-punk anthem.
‘In The Middle’ is the next song which also falls into the same verse-chorus structure and repetitive buzzword lyrics. From these two songs, it is shown that the instrumentals provided by Chris Bowerman and Jai Gibson on guitar, James Karagoizis on bass and Jamey Bowerman on drums, are falling towards the more “pop” side to pop-punk in thanks to feeling very upbeat, over electrified and just a bit obnoxious.
‘Every Morning’ is an easy highlight of the EP; the song is unique compared to other songs as the instrumentals are a lot more varied such as broken chords, a slowed tempo feature in the final chorus and even a guitar solo in the short middle eighth section. Wilson’s vocals flow a lot better and listeners aren’t bombarded with the title in every chorus. However, this is the only track to not follow the trend of this EP. The second single and fifth track ‘YEAH!’ Returns to Between You and Me’s seemingly small comfort zone with sub-par chorus lyrics and very similar instrumentation trends to the other singles on this EP.
To close the almost 18-minute run time is ‘Sad Songs’. It’s as tedious as a common cold in thanks to it’s lifelessly lingering central riff and droning feedback; for a closing song, it falls rather flat and limp. Although this EP has some highlights and glimpses of hope, it just feels generic, outdated and a product of a time lost to the ages. The songs give off a singalong vibe as the lyrics are so incredibly repetitive and predictable that even a casual listener could learn the words with one listen-through. However, it’s obvious that the self-proclaimed boyband has found comfort in a 2010s pop-punk nostalgia sound and they do execute this well. So for those who miss As It Is and With Confidence, this EP will fill this void for you.