Review Summary: An extremely promising debut from the young Philadelphia rockers.
Upon my typical weekend activities of bar-hopping, eating things that will give me a heart attack ten years down the road, and getting rejected by nine out of every ten women that I hit on, I chanced upon the rising alt-rock group June Divided inside a small corner bar ten minutes from my home. As far as local live acts go, I have always had a relatively lukewarm outlook: sometimes they are decent, but you should never go into it with high expectations. When a band truly impresses me with their performance, it is kind of like finding twenty bucks in an old pair of jeans…it’s just a
good feeling. Usually at a place such as a bar, you get to experience the music from up close, talk to members of the band, and maybe even get a discount on their newest album. On a night with alcohol and good friends abound, June Divided still captured the spotlight as I got to do all of these things during the performance of their debut EP,
The Other Side of You.
My first impression of June Divided was that they were aspiring to be Paramore. However, these assumptions were based only on the most noticeable facets of the band – from the spunky and self-assured female vocalist (Melissa Menago) to the energetic, rock-oriented style of the drummer (Keith Gill) and guitarist (Chris Kissel). But outside of those undeniable similarities, there are a lot of important distinctions to make. Whereas Paramore is in-your-face, June Divided is more introspective, with unwinding lyrical topics and lengthier instrumental passages that do a better job of balancing out the vocals. One of the best examples of this is the opening ‘If You Were Here’, an emotional mid-tempo rock song with gorgeous acoustic picking and rapid drum fills that keep the transitions interesting. Along with lyrical brushstrokes such as “It's 4:30 a.m. and the lights on the streets are still on / It's still dark enough to need them” and “If you were here to see this / I’d have everything that this picture is missing”, the band paints us quite the vivid image – one that will make you long for that “one that got away” without having the guilt of those emotions being accompanied by corny lyrics. Another important difference is that June Divided, unlike more popular female-led bands like Paramore and Hey Monday, aren’t solely reliant on the vocalist. That isn’t a knock on Melissa Menago, but simply a compliment to the skills of the other band members. Just because Melissa isn’t flooring us with her pipes doesn’t mean the musical quality declines. In fact, some of the best moments on
The Other Side of You come when the band is engaged in some kind of prolonged instrumental section, such as the aforementioned portion of ‘If You Were Here.’ That’s the sign of a complete band, and if June Divided ever reaches the top, they can owe it to the chemistry that they currently share.
The Other Side of You illustrates the crossover potential to take June Divided to unprecedented heights. Even though they make a point of asserting their unique traits, they can also crank out radio-ready pop-punk anthems when they need to, and for more on that you don’t need to look any further than the title track. It is upbeat, lively, fun, and memorable whilst never deviating from the natural flow of the album. If you have heard a song by this band, it is ‘Bullet’, which has received moderate airplay in the Philadelphia area and has even garnered a small amount of national attention. ‘Bullet’ features a perfect blend of intertwined guitar picking and purposeful, bass-heavy drumming that sets up a series of minor explosions into the fast-paced chorus. Not only is it the band’s most recognizable song to date, but it also carries a level of technical proficiency that kicks it a notch above some of the similarly styled songs that are currently riding the airwaves.
The Other Side of You’s incorporation of numerous styles will appeal to fans of almost any genre, and that is a strength they can continue to build on as they write music in the future.
Despite the amounts of praise that have already been delved out regarding this album, there is one song that glows with a subtle greatness far beyond what June Divided could have ever imagined. The EP’s closer, ‘The Shadows’, highlights the band at their best and most brilliant. The song invites the listener with a spacey, atmospheric introduction of acoustic guitars and distant chimes that gradually grow larger with the aid of brief, intermittent chugging riffs. At over six minutes in length, its ever changing sound prevents it from becoming stale and makes it feel like the most important thing they have accomplished…and considering how young this band is, it’s probably
at least the most important song they have written to date. Not only does its post-rock tendencies prove that June Divided has more to offer, but it also eliminates the stigma that this is just another bitch-anthem writing girl-led band that jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else when
Riot came out. June Divided is its own band - one that is filled to the brim with potential. Fans and band members alike have reason to be excited over
The Other Side of You, and those optimistic opinions are far from divided.
