Wakefield label Philophobia Music ask the listener not to be afraid of falling in
love with the songs on their latest compilation, Do You Suffer from Philophobia?
Set for release on the 8th September, Philophobia clearly demonstrate their passion
for the stranger, more unique side of indie-rock music.
The EP opens with Molly Ringwald, a short, constantly building, but never climaxing
indie tune by Sponge Wings. It opens with a voice similar to Kim Deal saying:
and my heart went, before building drums and indie guitar kick. The predominant male
vocal sounds intentionally whiney and marginally camp, and may not be to everybody's taste,
but fits the vibe of the song perfectly.
One day, after school... offer the next track A New Low. This song talks of hitting
rock bottom, being confused and ultimately thinking sod it, with lyrics like: I don't
like to think about the way that things are going, knowing we’re all fucked and that's fine.
The song starts folky then breaks into a thrashy rock, which in theory sounds cool. However,
the guitar is too distorted, too loud and overpowers everything, ruining what is fundamentally
a great idea. The song progresses into an excellent psychedelic break down which gradually
builds back to a few seconds of the folk guitar.
Track three Julius Caesar starts with a talented guitar intro and progresses into a
mellow, feel good tune. With a vocal sounding a tad Kooks-ish, we can ignore that
because Pavilion are a well-rehearsed band with great melodies, good ideas with
interesting use of instruments.
The final song on the EP is the definite standout! The Bundersrats have really broken
the mould with You Got It All. With tight drums and bass laying the songs foundations,
a unique vocal is introduced. Sounding like a crazy mix of Johnny Rotten and Frank
Sinatra it carries this band into uncharted terrotories. With a grungy Primus styled
solo, trippy keys and packed to the brim with vibe it’s probably worth buying the EP for this
track alone!