The latest offering from Dutch four piece Call It Off is the ‘Liars’ EP, released on March 14th through White Russian Records. Only the second release in their short twelve-month lifespan, ‘Liars’ presents five tracks of very well crafted and confidently executed saccharine pop punk.
‘Liars’ opens with the punchy ‘Famous Last Words,’ a three-minute relentless ball-grabber of an anthem, which is followed up with the equally catchy pop punk of ‘Burning Bridges.’ What’s immediately noticeable is that, such is the strength of their song writing, Call It Off seem to instil in the listener the raucous voices of a festival crowd singing along as the sun sets, in some packed, sweaty tent. There is certainly a maturity in their song writing not usually present in bands with such a short existence.
On lead single, ‘Stuck With You,’ the gain knobs are teased back anticlockwise, and the guitars take on a noticeably more textured sound. Again here the band plays on its strengths; an instantly unforgettable chorus supplemented with well-placed backing vocals. ‘I Don’t Wanna’ and ‘Call Me,’ tracks four and five, respectively, are regrettably a little weaker than the first three; the first being a little too repetitive in its hook, and the second not quite providing the strong end to the EP hinted at in the earlier tracks.
Call It Off’s influences are evident: Midtown, New Found Glory, Mest and, most strikingly, ‘Warning’-era Green Day. Stylistically, there is nothing new here. But is that necessarily a bad thing? In their bio Call It Off proudly list their influences, like an author citing her sources. And there is arguably far less of a need for originality when a band can sculpt songs of this quality. It’s just a shame this EP isn’t a couple of tracks shorter, as it could have been proportionally a much better product.
PAUL FIELDS