Source: EP Artwork
Milan quintet sittingthesummerout are releasing their new EP Brick and Mortar on 1st December. Although it is their sophomore release, the band have used it as a reinvention of sorts. As they’ve come to find their sound, this seems like the perfect time and place to get acquianted with the band. Putting a dreamlike twist to post hardcore with a mix of spoken word, the Italian act create a stunning introduction for both new listeners and those coming back to re-familiarise.
The first track ‘Nothing Changes In Baltimore’ presents sittingthesummerout to us by way of twinkly guitars as a backdrop to vocalist Samir Batista‘s storytelling. At first glance, it’s very easy for the band to come across as sulky and gloomy but upon further inspection it’s clear that their outlook has a more positive underlying message. It’s in the way ‘It Won’t Rain Forever’ questions why we choose to leave home. In some ways the themes of reflection and piecing things together are hinted at on the EP’s artwork in which the different parts of a photograph are brought back together.
“Please don’t write about me / You let it trickle down to my skull / Why would you write about me? / Your words mean nothing.” Middle track ‘Permanence’ begins with a disappointed questioning of the things people may say about you. Soon enough that disappointment channels into slight anger before ventual closure – this translates in the track’s increased pace and heavier final chorus.
‘Dry, Dry June’ serves as an interlude that then leads us to the EP’s final track and single ‘To Those Concerned’. As we reach the end, this shows sittingthesummerout at their most diverse, eloquently switching between the calmer, more atmospheric parts of their identity to their faster tempos fuelled by charging drum rhythms and screamed vocals.
Throughout the EP it’s clear the band have no issue wearing their influences on their sleeves, with clear nods towards the likes of La Dispute peering through their tracks, but not without putting their own mark on it. After two years of creating music as sittingthesummerout, the five-piece claim to have truly found their sound, and it definitely comes across when you listen to the tracks on Brick and Mortar. For many, this would be a first encounter with the band, and what a great place to start.
