Demos

Mybe - The Calm Before The Storm

Owain Paciuszko 25/03/2009

Rating: 3/5

From the off there are many things I dislike about the first track of this five-track EP, but, then it has some neat chord changes and hallmarks of a track I probably would've liked when I was younger and bought things like Menswear and Babylon Zoo. Aside from the chorus the first track is pretty well produced indie-pop fun, it's a complete confection and lacking any real bite or edge and seems to be composed entirely of cliched lyrics, but saying all that it's pretty good fun.

Things continue in a similar fashion on Crash and Burn, but the fun is depleted by repetition. Mybe have a sound akin to acts like The Automatic and a similar desire to give you verses that could also be choruses, 'everything has to be catchy', and it's like eating too much Pick 'n' Mix and then going on a bouncy castle.

Things slow down for a moment on Falling Down and to begin with it sounds like one of Soulwax's more restrained moments, but it all goes awry and a little power-ballad come the end of the track with a big sing-a-long moment that's dangerously McFly. With You I'm Nothing swings from being a touch The Great Escape-era Blur and then a Weezer, and the final track is nice in a Green Day covered by Terrorvision with an English pub karaoke vibe.

On first listen I thought that I was going to have to be a mean critic, something I never particularly enjoy doing, but on second airing there's a lot to enjoy on this EP. It's very forgettable, it's fluff, but it's inoffensive and good fun whilst it's on. Mybe won't be a band you eagerly anticipate, but neither will they be a band you resent whilst they're around.