Last month, Grip-Like Vice released their debut album Place//Circumstance. With 7-track (then 3 bonus tracks!), the album is an autobiographical account following a Cornish musician dealing with financial hardship, homelessness and relationship complications.
The mood is all-around melancholic, with a DIY flair to the recording. With this, I must say that I found the mixing could have been perfected slightly in parts – but ultimately, it’s not bad. Some artists that came to mind while I listened were Forever the Sickest Kids, Boys Like Girls, but also The Killers and Kaiser Chiefs, although the resemblance is to earlier works of the latter.
The tracks seemed to have a similar sound to them, although But It’s Not Christmas stood out to me. The song sounds fresh out of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, with a hint of Muse. I really enjoyed how the melodies changed between verses and the chorus. It’s the only song I could really imagine I’d put on my own playlist.
Get Inside, Go Nowhere showed off a mixture of punk and nu-metal, the genres that seemingly influence guitarist Beren Matthews. Despite this, it continues to have the soft sadness that the rest of the album holds.
With the Band was the only other song that really stood out. It’s also the first bonus track! Unsure if it was by choice, but it seems to have such a positive twist compared to the rest of the album. Although the lyrics are some-what sad, it has the upbeat tune of a Disney Channel opening!
Place//Circumstance is out now, and available to stream on their website and buy on their Bandcamp!