EP Review: The Wombats - 'Is This What It Feels Like To Feel Like This?'
The Wombats are still here, and still relevant. The supergroup previously released two teasers of their just released new EP ‘Is This What It Feels Like To Feel Like This?’ and with it show a confident and more unhurried alternative pop version of themselves.
Single ‘I Think My Mind Has Made Its Mind Up’ is a slice of the new Wombats-sound, more echo-ing, still equally as catchy as previously released hits ‘Kill The Director’ and ‘Moving To New York’ but a little more modern. The opener of their new EP is clearly well-produced and thought-through, but a tad on the safe side. On ‘Dressed To Kill’ the band take the tempo up a notch and we return to the ‘Kill The Director’-era, one of my favourites by The Wombats. The band still creates warm and well-rounded pop songs with memorable vocals and this EP showcases that rather well. The trio returned to the UK for sold out shows in Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Norwich, Newcastle and Manchester and are now back to focusing on the promotion of their new EP.
‘Is This What It Feels Like To Feel Like This?’ is a more mature collection of songs, with single ‘Demon’ being the best example of this mature sound with honest and open-hearted lyrics that pleasantly surprised me. The song best portrays the philosophical mood in which we know the band best, but less light-hearted and more serious. The EP contains the bands’ rawest material yet, for the EP they traded polished synths for spiky guitar riffs and heavy choruses. The heaviest and most hard-hitting chorus appears on the EP’s title track, the track being a melodious indie pop song with hints of shyly performed synth lines. The Wombats co-produced part of the project themselves, after which bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen took some of the files back to his homeland of Norway to mix in his home studio.
‘Is This What It Feels Like To Feel Like This?’ makes me wonder if they are able to top the hits they are so well-known for, with this EP they seem to push their boundaries and show off a sound that is so very easy to consume while still being a diamond in the rough. ‘Same Old Damage’ is the fourth song on the EP that continues building towards a crescendo I’m not sure we will hear on this EP, maybe on the next? I feel slightly relieved knowing that the bands I loved when I was a teenager are still, and maybe even more, relevant and by far not done releasing indie banger after indie banger. Their timeless songwriting supports this stance and makes them a still ever-evolving outfit. Closing track of the EP, ‘Good Idea at The Time’ stills some of my hunger for The Wombats yet at the same time leaves me longing for more.
The Wombats still have a lot more noise to make, and with this teasing ensemble of new alternative rock-infused pop tracks the band show they are confident they can keep convincing with their music!
Words by Laura Rosierse
