Everything Everything: Arc

    Two weeks ago, Everything Everything dropped their sophomore release on the Sony RCA label, Arc, following up on a three year wait since Man Alive (2010). There are a ton of similarities in style, but a lot of critics are saying that they found more of a groove, in terms of song construction that is not so gimmicky, about half way through the album. I think of Everything Everything as this band with really interesting art rock sensibilities, which then are transformed into a heavier rock kind of feel at the choruses. Check out the song "Torso of the Week" from Arc to hear what I mean. The band itself had this to say about their music (courtesy of Wikipedia): "We think of it as pop primarily but I think it’s a little bit more interesting. We try not to make it sound like a lot of things you’ve heard before, we don’t try but it tends to come out a bit like that. We’re not really interested in copying certain genres or anything, so I guess you’d say it’s unpredictable and sort of surprising." Bassist Jeremy Pritchard has said the band's intention is to "to avoid cliche, or the cliches expected of white men with guitars from Manchester" and sums up their sound as "highly stylised and deracinated – we're influenced by everything except 12-bar blues". Higgs counts Nirvana, Radiohead, the Beatles, Destiny's Child, and R. Kelly as some of their very eclectic influences. That should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. I completely agree with pop being the basis for their genre as well. But, I'd say they reach into Alternative, Power Pop and the New Wave bandwagon on this album, the latter of which is surely disappointing.
    What I like about Everything Everything is they are utterly creative. The high falsetto vocals, not foreign to pop/rock I know (i.e. Passion Pit), but Jonathan Higg's voice is clearly different. Plus, their composition creates layers and unique sounds with synths and guitars.The melodies are a little sing-songy, like a child just making stuff up, sometimes, but that adds their own flair to the music also. I prefer their quick rhythmic songs to their slower more melancholy, I think they fall a little flat in terms of depth of melody and creativitiy.
    If you want to do some listening, check out their SoundCloud page, here. Their two singles, "Cough Cough" and "Kemosabe", as well as some remixes are available there. I've not found a full legal stream yet, though you can find it on Grooveshark if you know how to search for it. When I do I'll post a link. For now, check out the song "Kemosabe" under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. Their newly designed website is here. Enjoy!