REVIEW: The Disconnect – All I’ve Found (EP/2012)
Artist: The Disconnect
Album: All I’ve Found (EP)
Have you ever spent hours looking for something that, when all was said and done, you just swear you must have lost. Only after that heavy-hearted resignation did you realize that–wait, it was just under that pile of laundry, or right in the one place you didn’t look? I know that happens to me all the time; when I was young, I would always have to ask my dad for help finding a game boy game, or help finding a charger for appliance X or console Y. The same can be said for my search for a band which tastefully blends upbeat pop-punk melodies with hard-hitting post-hardcore punchiness. Case in point: Floridian post-hardcore turned pop-punk act The Disconnect, and their EP All I’ve Found. By combining dynamic, fast-paced drumming with rapidly and energetically strummed riffs with catchy and almost-angsty vocals with just enough of a harsh twinge to provide variation, All I’ve Found is a stellar, comprehensive release with only one flaw: There just isn’t enough to go around.
Instrumentally, The Disconnect’s release is nothing short of intrusive–in the best ways possible. The bouncy, fun harmonies of the guitars and bass get driven into the listener’s ears like nails by the hard-hitting and raunchy percussion, and get stuck there for days. From the very beginning of “Nothing Left,” to the very end of “Empty Handed,” All I’ve Found is a musically concerted effort which keeps the listener hooked without trying too hard or sounding forced in the slightest. It isn’t always the straightforward aggression or rough-and-tumble attack of the instrumentation which gets lodged in the listener’s brain, however. The keep, pounding timbre of the drums alongside the ethereal plucking of the guitar in “Weathered” do a great job of providing an inherently mesmerizing type of catchiness which the listener can’t deny. It’s tracks like this which contrast brilliantly against the equally brief “Recipe for Disaster,” which is a short but violent attack on the listener which opens with a riff that the listener won’t be able to shake for days–like a bad cold.
All I’ve Found’s instrumentation is rivaled only by it’s vocals for it’s catchiness. “Recipe for Disaster” has such a lush and rhythmic vocal pattern that it can’t help but amplify the instrumental catchiness to create a completely contagious track–the real recipe for the disaster. Furthermore, the track launches right into the firestorm that is “In My Sleep,” a track with soothing interludes and aggressive bursts which play off of each other to keep the vocal onslaught busy in it’s two-front invasion into the listener’s brain. Truthfully, the vocals utilize a pervasive heavy-soft-softer dynamic which shudders and starts in between a soothing croon, a belted sing and a harsh scream, all of which equally effective at sticking against the walls of the listener’s skull and rattling around for what feels like eons. The vocals are further amplified by the lyrics, which can be related to by listeners of almost any walk of life, meaning that not only do the words get stuck in their head, but the meaning echoes with them as well. This sort of two-dimensional attack makes The Disconnect all the better at creating well-thought-out, catchy and harmonic music.
It’s the culmination of these several elements which makes All I’ve Found a truly comprehensive musical effort. Whether it’s the slower, softer moments found on “Weathered” and “Empty Handed” or the fast-paced angst heard on “Nothing Left” or “Recipe for Disaster,” every moment of the EP is catchy and brilliant. The bouncy percussion sticks like glue against the guitars and the vocals, snowballing into a lush and cool sound which ices the listener’s bruised emotions like a much-needed ice pack. In the process, even with song after song getting lodged in the listener’s head, they can’t complain, because each track is different, dynamic and wonderfully composed. Thankfully for the band, the enormous diversity in each track and how high the replay value of the EP is aid enormously in All I’ve Found’s only flaw: It’s simply too brief. Even at a full six tracks long, two of the tracks clock in at under two minutes, making them seem slightly lacking, even if they work in a sort of two-part harmony. The cold, bitter truth is that even when The Disconnect leaves an enormous impression on the listener with All I’ve Found, the listener will need to keep looking to fill the void that the band created with such a brief release.
When the only problem with your release is that it isn’t long enough, chances are, you’re doing something right. This is definitely true with The Disconnect. All I’ve Found is the diamond in the rough, the needle in the haystack that the listener has undoubtedly been searching for. Pop-punk song structure meets hard-hitting post-hardcore to create pervasive, catchy music which is well-crafted and carefully composed. Next time, it would be nice to have to lay off of the “replay” button for the listener to get their fix.
9/10
For Fans Of: Sparks the Rescue, Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Scary Kids Scaring Kids
By: Connor Welsh
