Album Review: Basement - 'Two Songs'

“Two Songs” is exactly what the title suggests, two brand new songs on tape format from one of the fastest rising bands in pop punk at the moment, the UK’s Basement. The band has been turning a serious amount of heads since the release of their fantastic debut EP “Songs About The Weather”, and they have just announced their signing with Boston based record label Run For Cover Records.

The two new songs are demo versions of songs that will be featured on the band’s debut album, which is scheduled to be released in early 2011. The songs mark a bit of a stylistic departure from the band’s sound heard on their 7”, this time around they are taking on more of a slower emo influenced sound, compared to the faster pop punk they have produced previously.

The Lifetime influenced riffing is still evident in the opening track “Plan To Be Surprised”, but the second half of the song shows the band pushing their songwriting further than they have before, making their emo influenced more obvious. The backing vocals by bassist Alex Henery have improved a great deal since the EP, which make his voice a great addition to the track.

The following track “Every Single Word” continues on with the slower sound, although it wouldn’t sound out of place on their EP. Musically the track is nothing incredible, but the lead guitar parts flow really well with the rest of the band, and the band’s front man Andrew Fisher’s raw vocals has improved since the release of the last record.

Considering the tracks on this release are a live recording, the sound quality is surprisingly great. The live recordings make Fisher’s charming English accent more obvious than what they are on their EP, which definitely isn’t a bad thing, it makes the band stand out compared to the other bands playing this style of pop punk.

This band has improved out of sight since the release of their demo last year, and their 7” that was released earlier this year is certain to be one of my favourite records of 2010. The songs on this release already sound great, and if they are any indication of what the band’s album will sound like, they are going to produce something special. These songs are a free download from the Run For Cover bandcamp, so you would be dumb not to check this out.

1. Plan To be Surprised

2. Every Single Word