Review Summary: Resurrection or Xerox?
Of all the nostalgic genre re-hashes out right now, mid-2000’s post hardcore seems a bit early to call retro, and revisiting it could be a polarizing gamble with individuality, a toss-up akin to those awkward teen years when identities can get lost, forged, and misinterpreted. Louisiana sextet, Secondborn, have stepped up to give it a shot though, attempting to bring some of this period’s more unique sounds together for a trip back in time on their forthcoming EP, “Symbols.”
The most immediately recognizable quality about this release, is that it sounds, by and large, like the self-titled Saosin LP. Most of the songs are in that same key, the production takes the same approach, there are similar harmonic choices, etc. Guitarists Patrick Trumps and Stefan Hawkins lay down a thick and atmospheric wall of sounds which aim at giving the listener an emotive, soaring experience. There are a few heavier moments tastefully sprinkled in though, such as the breakdown on “Wolves and Hounds” which, along with the next song, “In Winter,” will more predominantly reveal their other influences: The Receiving End of Sirens and Thursday.
Any Saosin comparisons worth their salt have to include something about having a badass drummer because there are few players in this style of music who shred their kits like Alex Rodriguez can. Lee Gauthreaux is just not on the same level, and while the EP doesn’t necessarily lose momentum because of this, the impact and power from his position is definitely gone a bit. However, the extra room he leaves behind gets filled in by keyboardist/3rd guitarist Tim Benson. His presence is more felt instead of being overtly noticed and that’s a good thing as keyboards and synths can easily become a tacky ornament forced into the mix. A little lead here, a little pad there, a little drum machine break here: the right way is all in the details, complimenting the meat of the arrangements as well as maintaining the huge sound SB is after.
Daniel Pinner’s lead vocals are an interesting pairing with these instrumentals supporting him. He doesn’t have that super high delivery that would be expected with a band like this, but instead, he’s more like a Geoff Rickley or Brendan Brown, minus their lyrical expressiveness or immediate emotional depth. He pulls off a competent performance most of the time, but for as much mileage as he gets out of his lower register, Pinner’s range can be noticeably limited. He can be heard really reaching for the higher notes at the top or just out of his range. His harmonies are used as a reliably strong compliment to his melodies and keep them from falling flat.
Overall, there are definitely worse examples Secondborn could be basing themselves off of, and being a new band, sounding close to the groups who influence them is more of a venial sin than if they were on their third release. However, this is precisely the problem with, “Symbols.” It rips apart a few of the genre’s more unique bands and slaps their sounds together in one obvious way after another. Pinner even goes so far as to egregiously quote From First to Last with the line, “Secrets don’t make friends,” as well as tread dangerously close to copying the melodies from Thursday’s, “Understanding in a Car Crash,” through most of the runtime of “When Lions Dream.”
It makes one wonder whether this EP is trying to resurrect this mid-2000’s sound or merely Xerox it. My hope is for the former and an admirable return to a noteworthy but short chapter in the genre. Secondborn should not be satisfied with merely replicating these bands because without finding a way to be inspired while moving past the inspirations, they will not get anywhere. They aren’t off to a bad start, but they have all the right tools to sink their own ship.
