The Album:

Up and coming band Aim High wanted to kick off 2020 with a bang by releasing a spilt EP within themselves. Yes, you read that correctly, a spilt EP completely done by themselves. What does that even mean? What would that even sound like? Well, let’s dive in and get into it. Through this release, the band wanted to give listeners both sides of their musical vision: one side being more pop punk and funky, and the other side driving on an edgy nature with a metal/hardcore intention behind it. Instead of placing these works on a strict “same” record, they decided to make a spilt EP, where the works can relate to one another, but they don’t necessarily have to come from the same exact mold, and I have to admit this is the first time I’ve heard of a band doing that, and Aim High is doing some remarkable things with this approach. When listening to the record, it is evident that the majority of the hooks and the moments that will retain in the listener’s mind, lyrically speaking, come from melodies that are very pop punk infused. However, as those moments are created, the band is utilizing techniques that are heavily related to the metal music genre. As the band utilizes these techniques throughout the release, they are able to take the idea of contrast and just completely blow it out of the water, for they are always giving the audience something new to listen to. I hate comparing bands to other artists; however, if you would take Four Year Strong, Capstan, and Abandon All Ships- you would get a fairly good idea of the band’s sound, but experiencing the EP for yourself is the better call: trust me. Overall, I would give this EP a 4.5 out of 5 stars. As one listens to this work, especially if they are fans of both genres that are present, they won’t be able to help it but to fall in love because they are mixing the perfect dash of both genres that they are residing in to create an overly memorable EP. I foresee this band going places, and it’ll be cool to see them take off.

 

Top Tracks:

“Red Flags” and “Whole Milk”

Now, all of these tracks stick out when listening to the EP, for they all resonate in their own light; however, these selections happen to poke out a tad more compared to the others. This is because, when listening to the EP, the mixing of genres is evident the entire time; however, in these works, the band is truly pulling on the ornate nature of both genres and meshing those together to create tracks that will first confuse the listener, but then, they’ll be so groovy that they will just get attached. Like I mentioned in the general review, every work on this record is solid, and I would give the whole thing a spin, but if you’re looking for just a taste: I would start here.

 

The Artwork:

When talking about the album artwork for this release, it’s a tad different than my normal reviews, for since it is a split EP, the band decided to have artwork for the “Garnet Eyes” section as well as the “Severed Ties” section instead of one cumulative image. The image for “Garnet Eyes” is washed in a background of different shades of blue with a woman looking aimlessly in the distance. On the flip side, for “Severed Ties”, this image has a man just screaming like he’s in terrible, terrible pain with a background that is infused with different shades of oranges and browns. At first I was confused as to why the artist had two images instead of one, for most splits also have one photo that represents the record; however, once one sits and truly listens to the EP: the two images working together makes so much sense. This record runs on the idea of juxtaposition, and these two images couldn’t be more polar-opposite; thus, it would only make sense that in order to truly emphasize the vast nature of their musical vision, they need two, dramatically different images. Although an odd concept to think about at first, I would say that the artwork and the music that falls on the inside works quite well together, and the band gets a gold star for innovation and originality.

*”Garnet Eyes/Severed Ties” was released on January 10th, 2020.