PUP
The Unravelling of Puptheband [Little Dipper/Cooking Vinyl]
Fans know what to expect from these Canadian grit-pop overlords. Thick, crunchy riffs slathered in distortion, wailing with nigh-on punishing aplomb. Lyrics that make us want to laugh at first, then cry, then laugh again. Above all, we expect character – the tongue-in-cheek dorkiness of Stefan Babcock’s snarky quips, the loose and lively bite of Steve Sladkowski’s shredding, and the kind of steadfast, yet colourful rhythm section only bassist Nestor Chumak and drummer Zack Mykula could hold down. The sharpest songs are those that build on the, for example, ties gloomy verses to summery bridges, punctuated with a chorus primed for theatre-wide chant-alongs and with its vicious, tearing riffs. LP4 is PUP’s weakest effort, but that’s not saying too much when the band are like emo’s pizza: even when they’re ‘bad’, they’re still pretty good.
