Album Review: Dear John Letters by Seagulls

On occasion I search through the Discovery section on Bandcamp looking for cool new bands for our Band Of The Week section. This is how I found out about Atlanta, Georgia based four piece Seagulls. In October the band released a new two song single named Dear John Letters. I loved it immediately so I excitedly opened up a Word Document to review it there and then.

The first of the two songs is named Foot, Meet Mouth. The track begins with a little guitar feedback before launching into some rapid fire and pounding drums. I loved that when the vocals hit they were in the form of gang vocals - gang vocals are my favourites. The gruff vocals remind me heavily of Ryan Young's from Off With Their Heads yet the melody feels much more like Iron Chic. Two of my favourite bands in the world there so it's no wonder I really enjoyed Seagulls. The song is about realising that you've made a mistake and trying to make amends. Despite its gruffness Foot, Meet Mouth is really catchy and it's a song you will be singing along to instantly. This is a great, melodic, raw, pop punk track.

The second song is the single's title track Dear John Letters. This is the song I first heard when I randomly clicked play to see if Seagulls were any good. Turns out they're very good. This is one of my favourite songs of the year. Like Foot, Meet Mouth, it's a super catchy gruff pop punk track. It's so full of energy and will have you throwing your fists up, moshing and shouting your lungs out to the song. I feel like this track will give a lot of people very hoarse throats when they see it live. It starts out at a very fast paced and barely slows throughout its three minutes and fifty-eight seconds duration. The song is about trying to help a friend who is at the end of their tether and is contemplating ending their life. This is serious stuff and it's interesting to hear this song from the friend's point of view. I adored the lyric "We're Still Alive, Someday We'll Die, Let's Make The Most Of Our Fucking Time." A song of complete and utter quality.

What a single this is! I discovered the band and wrote this review in less than half an hour as this single got me oh so excited. I am now playing through the rest of the songs in their discography and falling more and more in love with Seagulls.

Stream and download Dear John Letters here:  https://seagullsatl.bandcamp.com/album/dear-john-letters

Like Seagulls here: https://www.facebook.com/seagullsatl

This review was written by Colin Clark.