State Champs – Overslept
Record Label: Pure Noise Records
Release Date: September 11th, 2012
New York pop-punk four-piece State Champs is a band I’ve been into for awhile now. I discovered them earlier this year, and was instantly blown away. While their last EP Apparently, I’m Nothing was a good record, it was rather generic, save for vocalist Derek Discanio. His voice is very unique, especially for the genre. He reminds me of Matty Arsenault, the vocalist for fellow pop-punk band A Loss For Words; his voice has a very R&B-esque sound, and it’s absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed their last EP, but there wasn’t much lasting value in it. When I heard the first single from Overslept, “Critical,” I was very impressed. It sounded much better than anything on the last EP, and it was different. Everything improved immensely, and it was quite impressive. However, the only thing I do not like about this EP is that it’s only four songs, and two of them are new.
The EP starts off with “Intro,” which is a forty-second intro, obviously. I hate it when bands do this, because it’s so unnecessary. It’s not awful, but it’s boring. However, it does lead into the first single “Critical,” and that song immediately proves how much better the band as a whole have gotten. Everything has improved brilliantly, and it really shows. Next song “We Are the Brave” is another very interesting track, but still rather generic. Last song “Remedy” is my absolute favorite of the three. It’s insanely addictive, especially for pop-punk. The chorus is great, and the whole song is just a great pop-punk track altogether.
There’s really only one problem with this EP that I have. It’s the fact it’s so short. This band has so much potential, but they only released a four-song EP. It’s not bad, because it is new music, but two of the songs were already released in the last couple months, so it’s slightly disappointing. And the fact there’s an unnecessary intro doesn’t make things much better. The lyrics are rather average, except for certain points, where the lyrics really do shine, such as “Remedy.” The musicianship has improved quite a bit as well. Regardless, it’s a great EP by a great band that any pop-punk fan should listen to immediately.
I agree with everything you said, they did a great job, but it's so apparent on the EP that they could do even better.
I absolutely adored this EP, but it's so disappointing that it was short. Thankfully, they announced details of a full length next year, so I'm really excited for that, honestly.
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