No Matter are a four-piece pop with a dash of skate punk band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Consisting of Dan (guitar and vocals), Jamie (drums), Cat (bass and vocals) and Jarlath (guitar and vocals), the foursome released a brand new album at the beginning of August, on Umlaut Records, titled Excess Baggage. I had a listen…
The first of eight tracks on Excess Baggage is How Low. It’s a mid-tempo track from the outset that grabs your attention with melodic guitars and a powerful rhythm section. When the vocals come in, there’s a lovely subtle Northern Irish twang to them – I love to hear a hint of an accent in vocals. How Low is, perhaps unsurprisingly, about feeling in a low mood and being unable to get out of it. The song is delivered in a catchy package however, musically, but also particularly in the lyrics of the chorus – ‘How low can you go? I don’t know. So I keep on falling.’ Up next is a track called Seething. Kicking off with a distinctly poppy guitar riff that kind of reminded me of Masked Intruder, this is a faster paced tune. The melody may have reminded me of Masked Intruder but the lyrics, on the other hand, do not. Seething is about feeling angry and somewhat miserable at the same time. Of course, No Matter make the song sound the complete opposite as musically it’s not in the least bit miserable. Before too long, we’re straight into the next track, Rewrite. Again the faster pace is retained for what is actually the shortest song on the album – barely longer than a minute. I got instant Green Day vibes with this song, particularly from the drums and bass, which is actually what I thought the first time I saw No Matter live (MPF 2018). Rewrite is about being bored of or annoyed by a certain aspect of your life and wanting to make a change but struggling to do so. ‘Same old story again, Same old story again, Same old story, It’s getting so boring, I need to rewrite but I seem to have mislaid my pen.’ Watch The World is the name of the fourth song on Excess Baggage. This is straight-up melodic punk rock, maybe with a bit of a slower pace but only compared to some of the other songs on the album. It’s still catchy but perhaps not as obviously poppy as previous songs. Chugging guitars and pounding drums drive the song forward but it’s all about the vocals here. I think this is a more obviously positive song lyrically than much of the rest of the album – ‘Watch the world, Because every day it gets a little better, So if anything, despite the weather, Just hold on, It’s just a little fun.’ – and that positivity is infectious.
Bohemian Scandal gets going with a bold and beefy bass line which then becomes one of the main focuses, as well as the backbone, of the song. This is the first song where Cat takes on lead vocal duties. It’s quite a contrast to Dan and Jarlath’s vocals so is a refreshing change at this halfway point of the album. I’m not sure if Bohemian Scandal is a specifically political song or if it might just be about a particularly awful human regardless of politics. Much of the track tears along at an upbeat pace but things slow a little for the chorus, allowing the words to hit home – ‘Your integrity is a parody, But I still hoped you might have had a shred of decency, But I was wrong for so long, I can’t believe we were so deceived and strung along.’ The sixth song, Scare-retail, mixes things up yet again. With only subtle palm-muted guitar and gentle drums, the listener immediately focuses on the vocals which are pretty darn heartfelt and hard-hitting for a pop punk song. Scare-retail is about the mental health effects of working in retail and just generally wanting to escape from a job that makes you feel unhappy and unlike yourself. It’s a topic that I don’t think I’ve heard covered in punk before. There’s also some brilliant ‘whoa-oh’ harmonies – this band sure knows how to rock a three-part harmony – and repetitions of ‘Get me out of here.’ The penultimate song of Excess Baggage is Lesson Learned. Kicking things off with some stop-start, urgent guitar playing and a drum beat that will get your head nodding along intently, Lesson Learned almost feels like the second part to the previous song. At least, these lyrics seem to nod to it anyway – ‘I think I, Gotta find a job, I’ve gotta find a way to pass the day.’ A short and somewhat intense guitar solo took me by surprise towards the end of the track adding some of that skate punk shreddyness to their more typical pop punk sound. Bringing the album to a close is Typical. Somehow No Matter seem to get even faster here, packing all of their remaining energy and enthusiasm into their final song. It's more furious and more angry as well as Cat takes the lead once more with plenty of venom in her vocals. Typical is about struggles in everyday life, particularly when it comes to your mental health. Things get rather heavy, instrument-wise, towards the end of the track allowing the song, and album, to end with a bang.
Excess Baggage is another top release from one of the best pop punk bands in the UK scene. Now I just need to see No Matter live again to sing along to these great new songs!
You can stream and download Excess Baggage on Bandcamp and like No Matter on Facebook.
This review was written by Emma Prew.
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