According to their Twitter bio, The Recreation, or ‘The Rec’, describe themselves as “Oldham’s brunette quartet”. They’re set to release their debut album ‘Some Things Do Change, Some Things Don’t Change’ on February 17.
With the band being underground, I was unable to conduct a great amount of research on their background. Though the band formed eight years ago, they have since completed four nationwide tours, and found themselves in lockdown having nothing better to do than to write an album.
As far as debut albums go, it’s not bad.
Some Things Do Change, Some Things Don’t Change has thirteen tracks, with a feeling of melancholy though with a desire to become happy again. It’s an album I can imagine having on in the background. It is a sound made for vinyl, matching the nostalgic feel of the artwork, which is a seemingly dated photo of an old couple sat together on a bench. However, the thought haunted me, that they sound like Weezer if they were (more) depressed.
Three songs stood out to me. First was their single Opus, which reminded me of David Bowie’s Lazarus with the use of synths. My Own Again and Centre of it All were the other two. The riff in My Own Again was fun and expressed some sense of happiness. Centre of it All was my favourite on the album, for the simplicity of it all. It’s mixed well, written clearly. A less is more feel, which I can appreciate.
The album is by no means perfect, however. The mixing could be much tidier and tested on different speakers. I seemed to get feedback on Don’t Look Down, which I’m not sure is intentional or not. My volume was 50% and it wasn’t pleasant to hear. As well, the songs are all incredibly similar. Towards the end I felt my attention drift away from it.
I can tell from listening to this that The Rec are good musicians and know how to write a song, but the songs on this album does not live up to their potential.
That being said, I would like to see this band live, to fully get a sense of what they are like as musicians. There are no current dates of any shows, but I will be keeping an eye out.
I encourage you to stream the album when it comes out on the 17th February.
It’s important to support young band, and it might be more to your taste.