Überyou are are a five-piece punk rock band from Zürich, Switzerland. With a number of albums and EPs in their back catalogue, I’m a little ashamed of myself for not having checked them out before. However, with their latest release Night Shifts, I have made amends and fallen in love with this band. The album was released back in January this year, on Gunner Records and Say 10 Records, and I’ve finally found time to review it. If you like hugely singalong-able, melodic gruff punk rock that encourages you to get your fist in the air then this is for you.
Night Shifts kicks off with a song titled Make It Last. Starting things off with a fairly lengthy – for a punk song – mid-tempo melodic introduction, Überyou will instantly have you nodding along and eagerly anticipating the first verse. The vocal style is that perfect balance of being slightly gruff but still being able to clearly make out all of the words, useful when you feel the urge to sing along almost instantly. Things really get good come the chorus which is when the gang vocals come in – ‘With bloodshot eyes, I feel alive, When you come around, To pick me off the ground.’ Gang vocals are ideal really given that this song is about friendship. A fine start to the album but the second song is where things go from great to goddamn awesome. Survivors is one of those songs that I absolutely loved from my very first listen. In fact, as soon as I heard it, I told Colin that he needed to listen to this song. It is what the kids might refer to as ‘a banger’ or ‘a tune’. It is perhaps a little slower in pace than the first track but that’s part of the beauty of it. The focus, for me, is on the lyrics which are about believing in yourself and striving to overcome whatever obstacles life might throw at you. It’s so cathartic, just read the lyrics to the chorus – ‘As long as you're breathing, We can't ignore the truth, Gotta keep on believing, We got nothing left to lose, Live like you mean it, Look at me as I speak to you – sure, I’ll get you through.’ Definitely my favourite song on the album and also probably one of my top songs of 2019 so far. The singalong vibes don’t stop there as next up is the slightly more poppy – but that’s totally not a bad thing – Overdrive with one of the catchiest choruses of the album. As you’d probably expect from a song called ‘overdrive’, Überyou tear through this track at some pace. To me at least, it seems much shorter than its 3 minute duration. Overdrive is about how we can often find ourselves rushing around our lives at full pelt because we don’t know what else to do or how else to live our lives.
The drums and bass take a backseat for the opening of fourth song, Not Entertaining. The opening lines of ‘I work hard until I fall, And the people I work for, they don’t even know what I’m going through.’ sink in all the more when simply accompanied by a clean guitar part. It really hooked me into the song and was a refreshing change of pace that I didn’t know I needed but welcomed all the same. It’s not too long, however, before Überyou are back to doing what Überyou do best – invigorating singalong punk rock. I often say how I like my punk with a bit of Americana or folk influence but really this is the punk rock I love the most. It’s honest and relatable in its lyrical content, as well as simply sounding huge musically. Überyou switch things up once more with what I want to describe as a danceable groove opening up the next track, Liabilities. When the vocals come in, they are perhaps a little rougher around the edges than on previous tracks and I would have a hard time figuring out the lyrics were they not supplied on Bandcamp. Liabilities also feels angrier than previous songs with the band really letting out their frustrations here, with these feelings culminating with the band vehemently singing ‘You don't know anything about me.’ If, like any good punk fan, you like your vocals in the gang variety then you’ll love the next song. Titled Twenty Seconds, but lasting just under two minutes, the gang vocals start immediately here and the opening line is brilliant – ‘If it wasn't for the music, Then for what was it after all.’. If that wasn’t enough, there are also classic punk rock whoa-ohs a’plenty before too long. The song is about something that is important to me, and most likely important to you too as you’re reading this blog – music and the memories that music can give you.
There is a great sense of building throughout Taking Chances as Überyou seem to guide us through this song. Each and every line of the song is delivered in such a succinct way that this almost feels like a well-worded motivational speech, especially when accompanied by those pounding drums and methodical melodies. Taking Chances is about understanding that any mistakes you’ve made in your past have only made you stronger or changed you for the better and knowing that sometimes you just need to take a chance. Shine Down hits hard from the outset with the volume seemingly cranked up a notch here – drum skins pounded a little harder and guitars played like there’s no tomorrow. This pace and volume doesn’t relent until towards the end of the song when a slower, more heartfelt section took me quite by surprise – ‘Shine down for me, Shine down for yourself, I wish you could be here, Shine down for me, Shine down for yourself, I know that you wish to be down here as well.’ It, oddly, reminded me of alt-country legends Chamberlain who, since this album was released, have been announced as headliners of Booze Cruise festival in Germany where Überyou are also playing. Nice coincidence, especially as I’m going! As we hurtle towards the end of Night Shifts, Überyou offer up a short and fast number in the form of It’s Not Easy. It’s a simple song in essence with the least lyrical content of any of the songs on the album, instead they pack a killer guitar solo into this song’s relatively short duration. Besides, sometimes you don’t need to weave complex stories with your lyrics, sometimes you can write a darn catchy and direct song about how breaking up isn’t easy – ‘It’s not easy, Breaking up is not easy, It’s not easy, But feelings disappear.’. And you can bet that Überyou will make it sound feel-good.
The penultimate song of Night Shifts is called More Time For Love. Here Überyou manage to pack in all of the best elements of their previous songs and – this might just be me – bring an ever so slight hint of hair metal to their sound. It might just be the track’s title and the way the band sings that line of the song! Either way, it’s still Überyou delivering a fists-in-the-air, passion-fuelled anthem. Much like earlier songs on the album, More Time For Love is about staying strong despite the dark times you may be dealing with because in the end it will be okay. ‘So many things that we’ll never have, Along the way, You’ll find ease, By learning that, You gotta stay strong, You gotta move on, More time for love, And for what keeps us going on!’ Yeah! If an album has just one longer song – 5 minutes plus – then it’s got to be the album’s closing track, right? That’s exactly what Überyou have done with Night Shifts. Don’t Ever Fall Apart is a slow builder but a slow builder of epic proportions. The slower pace ensures that the song hits you right in the feels. The band obviously holds friendship in high regard and it’s clear from this song how important friends are to the band as a whole, as well as individuals. It’s something the UK’s The Run Up – who, incidentally, are past tour buddies with Überyou – excel at but I think Überyou would give the Bristol band a run for their money with this track. ‘Don't ever fall apart, Don’t even think about, You’ll always be a part, We’re there to help you out.’
Night Shifts is a brilliant album. I am just sorry that it has taken me two months to write this review as I loved it from my first listen. As I mentioned above, Überyou are playing the Hamburg edition of Booze Cruise in June and I am very much looking forward to seeing them there. Hopefully they’re able to come over to the UK as well soon (damn you, Brexit!) as I know a lot of people would love hearing these songs live.
This review was written by Emma Prew.
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