Every week hundreds of songs, albums, and EPs are released, your social media has been rendered unusable by sponsored posts from musicians desperately vying for your attention, and maybe your inbox is also clogged with near-identical press releases. It’s hard not to feel disaffected. And then you hear Post Profit. They don’t need fancy introductions, carefully posed pictures or trite write-ups – their music speaks for itself.
Last year’s debut ‘When You Think It’s Right It’s Always Wrong’ was a proof of concept. The song-writing was excellent, the singing was distinctive, the riffs tactile. Sharptone Records heard it and snapped them up. Thus, the ‘Self Defeater’ EP is basically designed to validate the label’s choice. It picks up where they left off and, with money to throw at the production, it grabs you by both ears.
The opening track ‘Face The Crowd’ carefully introduces the three-piece’s sound. Gradually laying down their huge rhythm section and, after teasing you by singing the line “Something wicked is coming”, it hits you with chunky guitars. It’s an alt-rock sound, but uses the space and groove of nu-metal to give it a muscular edge. You could compare it to the easy accessibility of bands like Sick Joy but they could also sit alongside emo revival bands like Movements or Koyo or the much-missed Bad Sign. The druggy parts of ‘Cancer Culture’ and the inflections on ‘Keep Your Excuses’ also share the kind of atmosphere of Deftones record without actually sounding like them. Put simply, they’re difficult to pigeonhole so we’ll stick with describing their approach as ‘distinctive’.
This slightly indefinable quality is perhaps the result of the band having grown up together. There’s a dynamic at play between them and not just because they all provide vocals. The songs manage to capture a sense of passing time and growing into new roles. It’s most obvious on ‘Drug Emporium’ which repeatedly references ‘high school’ but there’s more than that. The EP marks their entry into wider culture and you get a feeling of looking back and mourning their youth with lines like “I don’t need you no more” doing more than providing a hook. You can also feel it in the fluid song construction, and the breaks and pauses. The way the guitar swings in on ‘Drug Emporium‘ or the massive groove flowing through ‘Two Toxic’ feel almost effortless.
The real step up from their debut comes curtesy of producer Gene Freeman aka Machine as he clearly understands exactly what they’re aiming for. It’s an unfussy, simple sound that’s remarkably powerful. It’s also uncluttered by padding and it’s notable how huge the bass is especially when it’s combined with the weighty bass drum and thick snare sound which gives the stop/start sections punch like a heavyweight boxer.
With its huge chorus of “Don’t take it personal” and massive riffy breakdown, the title track is a lesson in how to make something hard, intimate and catchy. There’s also a delightful irony to singing “Don’t be impersonal” on a song that sounds so distinctively them.
To put this as plainly as possible, you need to hear Post Profit. This EP is a great showcase.
IAN KENWORTHY
