lowground: Good Luck With That Ep

lowground are a local Chicago emo punk four-piece, who are poised for a breakout. Their blend of melodic choruses and aggressive verses helps them fit into a crowded pop-punk scene, but their vocals are what actually make them stand out from it.

Good Luck With That is loaded with catchy hooks and even catchier choruses that make this brief but exciting five-song release punch above its weight. There's even a pinch of Finch-like guitar work on Revachol's opening that'll catch the ear of anyone who spent time with early 2000s emo. They stand apart from today's overproduced, cookie-cutter pop-punk sound, even if they're borrowing a bit from the early aughts formula that made the genre great in the first place. That's not really a knock. It's an acknowledgment that that formula works and lowground know how to use it.

Every track on this EP feels like it could belong on a Tony Hawk soundtrack,. Authors kicks things off with the confidence of a band who know exactly what they're doing. Pond opens with enough of a tempo shift to signal some range. Belief Pt. 2 and Finisher round out the back half with the kind of hooks that stick around longer long after the short ep is over. Sidenote: The EP was mastered by Jesse Cannon, whose credits include The Menzingers and Saves the Day.

Any knocks on the release should be read as constructive. So with that said, the tracks mostly all sound similar, high energy, slightly elevated pitch, with the only real tempo variation coming in Revachol and Pond's intro. More variety would serve them well on a longer release. A ballad, or even just one song that breathes, would let the energy of everything else hit harder. The drumming is also consistent to a fault. Not boring, but limited in variety outside the main pattern per song. For a full-length, that would be a problem. For a five-song introduction, it's a minor note.

Lyrically the lyrics weren't available on Spotify to dig into properly, but from repeated listening the themes seem to orbit maturity, self-reflection, and the particular feeling of knowing you're capable of something bigger while you're still waiting for the moment that proves it to everyone else. There's a healthy dose of cynicism mixed in, which suits the music.

I get Autopilot Off meets Name Taken vibes throughout. High-energy rock songs that are going to be an absolute blast live. This is a great debut statement. Hopefully it catches the attention of a label, if that's the direction the guys want to go, and gets them the kind of budget and studio backing to find out what they can really do when the ceiling gets raised. I'm hoping their next release is something special.