Half Awake

Decarly-Decarly EP (EP Review)

Decarly are a five piece band from Melbourne, three of it’s members are related and they have a sole release out here, in the ether.

That is just about all there is too know about Decarly and that is pretty much all that you need to know about them-their music is self-released, available online right now, for free at gimmiesound. No extensive back story to affect a listeners approach to and perception of their work, no mitigating factors which affect either their writing and recording, a perfunctory list of influences on their myspace page and this, Decarly EP.

Decarly’s eponymous EP is a stirring, well built piece of work. Urgency is the key to this recording, not a rushed urgency, but rather an intriguing impetus behind the music. Even in its slower and more reflective moments their is a forceful movement in the way that their music is put across. Damaged And Done kicks it off with an insistent guitar line over a following piano. The vocals then kick in, filtered, and with them comes a haunting feeling as they rise and fall. This haunting sense is the other overarching felling throughout the recording. ‘Haunting’ is a difficult concept to put down, it is there in the feeling in the vocals, the soaring synths that sit in the background, the occasional intensity of the electric guitar.

The third track and centerpiece Notes brings this underlying haunted feeling to the fore, introduced with a soaring and intense melody (that is not a laptop synth but rather whistling through a snare), and a punching rhythm, this is a gripping song, complex and entirely approachable as group vocals rise behind the chorus and then drop again into the verse. This is a track with underlying strength, a real power that drives it forwards. The whole of the recording is well pieced together, there are smatterings of electric guitar throughout, never overbearing, always well placed. The group vocals are never too much, complementing what is already at play. Despite that the sounds are familiar throughout, no instrument at any time becomes tiresome or frustrating.

This, Decarly EP, is a really strong debut, underpinned by an urgent, haunting intensity and reinforced with powerful melody from all corners as it whorls around outside and inside of your head.

7.9/10

Decarly EP free.
Gord Sherven remix.

Edit: Apparently this is actually the second Decarly EP, having released something a few years ago which is up on iTunes to download.