It seems like an eternity ago that Brighton's melodic punks the River Jumpers released their fantastic debut album Chapters. Released in 2012 chapters featured ten brilliant punk rock gems about living in the moment, learning who you are and relationships. After then releasing the excellent song All Our Histories last year the River Jumpers boys finally released a brand new self titled five track EP. Here are my thoughts on it.
The opening track Grays Sports Almanac (1950-2000) starts
off very quickly with lead singer Nicholas Davis distinctive vocal showcased
straight away. Musically this is as hard as I've ever heard River Jumpers with
the drums in particular really driving the song forwards. Midway through the
song the music fades out and gives the illusion that the track is done before
coming back in with some uplifting lyrics about realising who you are and
fighting for what you believe in. The second song, Peaks And Troughs is a
typical River Jumpers catchy punk rock jam. If you're not at least humming I
can see this track becoming a firm favourite in a River Jumpers live set. I
really love the way Davis's sings with a different melody to the music in the
opening verse of the next song Rest Un-Assured. There is a great breakdown
towards the end of the song where Davis sings the lines "Find What Keeps You Strong, And Try To Fix What's Wrong." Inspiring
stuff. The penultimate song National Divide allows bassist Paul Perity to show
off some great bass lines to open the song before River Jumpers get angry. I've
not heard Nicholas spew venom so much on any River Jumpers song before. National Divide is
obviously a political song bordering on the hardcore punk rock genre. Another
song that will go down a storm in a live setting, giving the crowd a chance to
get a chaotic circle pit going. The final song Playground Politics is my
favourite song on the EP and one of my favourites of the year. It's about being
fed up of all the petty arguments and ignorance that still goes on in grown up
life, even though you thought that was left behind when you finished school. Musically
this song has everything I love in my punk rock songs, fast and interesting
beats, it makes me want to dance and sing and it makes you think. Bloody
brilliant stuff.
Since River Jumpers released this EP there has been a
complete line up change with only lead singer and guitarist Nicholas Davis
staying on and the band becoming a five piece rather than a four. For me this
was very surprising news as this EP is simply fantastic and I was expecting
great things to follow from it. That said I have every faith that the new line
up will continue to make River Jumpers get better and better and I'm looking
forward to seeing what they do next.
Buy River Jumpers here: https://fxdrecords.bandcamp.com/album/river-jumpers
Like River Jumpers here: https://www.facebook.com/riverjumpers
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