The split released digitally and on cassette through Small Avenue Records features two London based-bands; Attila the Fun and Middle Distance. Young in appearance as well as songwriting, each song is a document of British emo and DIY punk ethics.
First song “Mantis Toboggan” by Attila the Fun twinkles into being with a faster take on American Football-like guitarwork until it jumps into the character of melodic punk with hooks and grooves that keep the song interesting. This is is a song that pricks up your ears.
Many are playing music in the same veins as Attila the Fun Concave and Pipedream come to mind when I think of bands who are also channelling the indie-rock and emo charms. On April 3rd Atilla the Fun played their first show, and their live performance and songwriting abilities are promising. The addition of strings on their second offering “Seafloor” is a subtle tone, and adds a great tone to the overall feel of the song.
Attila the Fun’s brasher sounding vocals are replaced by Middle Distance’s cleaner sounds, showing the opposite spectrum of Basement inspired emo. “Film”’s distorted guitars wash away any perfections the song may have, leaving the skin scrubbed raw and bloody.
“English Rooftop (Part 2)” is the bandage, covering the song in a guitar-led sleepy end to the split, that’s as soothing as it is refreshing among the majority of thrashing on the record. And then it hits you. The song bursts open at the seams and takes a life of its own – guitars and percussion crash together in succession and fade into nothing as you’re left with a heavily beating heart.
Youthful in its approach, the split’s low quality gives the split a bedroom-recording feel that is as organic and emotive as the music suggests.
