Neil Morrison founded a five-piece band in late 2017 after debuting as a solo performer in 2015, originating from Dundee. The band describes themselves as psychedelic rock’n’roll and have worked with bands like the Libertines and Trampolene, as well as releasing an EP and a few singles. Their latest EP, The Kids Aren’t Alright, is a heavily sombre EP with hypnotic overtones, bringing to question our deeper feelings of life and loneliness, and how they are often related.
The Kids Aren’t Alright, the eponymous track opening the EP, is trance-like and rich with gravity and sincerity. The melancholic charm is maintained by Morrison’s vocals, a steady and light combination of Bass (by George MacKenzie) and Organ (by Fabio Whyte), and good drum beat by drummer Ben Carswell. The dancing guitar track by Matthew Kermally, however, truly ties this song together and keeps the song alive in amongst the sad tones. This song resonates in an empty way and, in the wonder of psych-rock, makes you both chilled out and depressed at the same time.
Leading from this is Oh My, Still Waiting… which starts off immediately much more uplifting than its predecessor with another confident guitar track and a more playful drum beat. The organ backing track keeps this music feeling slightly vintage and off-colour, and the guitar maintains a second sense of a lead alongside Morrison’s vocals. Still, there is an echo of pain, attributed to the opening tones of The Kids Aren’t Alright and Morrison’s vocals, which marry the easy tone of this song and the dim context of the EP together. There seems to be a second layer to both of these songs, masked by the organ and the vocals, and brought to light by the lively guitar.
Reason to Wander balances out the sombre tones of the first song and the joyful tones of the second with a dark and echoing guitar and bass combo matching the smooth vocals of Morrison. While the lack of a drum beat or the prominent organs simplify the song, the absence of these instruments and the quiet edge to Morrison’s voice creates an honest, confessional tone to this track. The lyrics – specifically “how does it feel to be lonely?” and “people say I’m just wasting away, but I’m just looking for a reason to wander” – stand out to me as a sort of submission to the weight of this EP. However, this song is not down-putting as the first track; in fact it is relieving in a sense of a lifted burden that comes from being truthful to oneself, which the band has managed to convey wonderfully in this track.
The EP ends with Goodbye In A Hurry, a revisited version of one of their earlier songs. (The original track is available on Youtube, Spotify, and Soundcloud.) The original track features Morrison’s vocals, a simple and blue guitar track, and a gentle backing track of organs. The revised version featured is beautiful – there is a grand sense of liveliness that has come about due to the presence of the band, specifically the powerful drum beat and the stable guitar giving this track a rejuvenation. Morrison’s voice also sounds much more fluid, fitting in well with the new psychedelic outlook of his band. All in all this is a great conclusion to the EP: an equal balance of tragedy in its seriousness, married with a fluid and wavering atmosphere, gives this EP a timely sense of strength and emotion that is exciting to see in the modern day.
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