Listening to Codist’s Porcelain Boy will cause your head to move in every conceivable direction, instead of just the traditional up and down.
All of these head movements are in the affirmative, as Codist exceeds the expectations of anyone familiar with them unveiling this powerfully cool, technically brilliant and acoustically pleasing EP.
It seems as if the late nineties and early noughties rock and emo that so many of us have grown up listening to seeped into the musical unconscious, but is now coming back with a bang.
This EP seems to carry tropes from myriad times, places and styles and masterfully packages them together in a surprising and original way; without ever being boring, predictable or twee.
‘Grindstone Cowboy’ gives an immediate feel for the band with playful staccato on the guitar, pleasant and quiet rolling drums and Phil Ivers clear, rhythmic and confident vocals.
It has a lazy college rock feel, but this perception is given numerous shots of adrenaline, particularly around the choruses; Codist be tight.
‘Perhap’ is the nadir of the EP; it is very rhythmical, but it is more seasickness than sleep inducing.
A bridge late on allows the band to have fun with the guitar music and break this mould, the style they employ is reminiscent of Modest Mouse, which is a theme that runs throughout the EP.
‘The Outside’ is an unmistakably fun and interesting song with a lot going on.
One of the things that is perhaps so attractive about American college or slacker rock is its predictability and low-energy, Codist simultaneously capture this quality and forcibly eject it, failing at no point to impress with their intense but highly disciplined musicality.
Their music is unpredictable without being chaotic and impressive without feeling overdone.
The penultimate track is ‘Vitamin D’, the darling of the EP, is a romantic song that seems to simultaneously engage with and poke fun at the rock band love song.
It does this before setting up and activating the warp-drive, kicking things into maximum overdrive and engaging the turbo-boost and all of those sorts of things; the end of ‘Vitamin D’ live or on record is most certainly enough to make anyone with ears start asking questions.
The EP ends with slow and steady softy ‘Shaky Cam’, which highlighting Codist’s versatility, command over their influences and capacity to write great songs and rounds off an excellent EP.
Overall, Codist seem to pay homage to a great wealth of well-loved styles, presenting a fun-filled and seriously talented band with nowhere to go but up.
Words: Paul Aitken
Rave Child 