The frustrating thing about reviewing Faceplant’s self-titled EP is that you realize that you will never see them live and you’ll never hear their four songs in a higher quality format. I’ll start from the beginning.
Faceplant are was a band based out of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. They made pop punk with a heavier emphasis on pop than on punk. They described themselves as “baby punk” still trying to figure it out. They’re pals who played instruments so they started a band. Because they lived in different parts of the country, they could only play when they were all at Wesleyan and due to the realities of long distance relationships, they broke up.
was it really that easy
am i just a memory
sink into your body
you don’t scare me
Like many relationships that begin at college, their brief affair burned very bright. You can see it in the few videos that exist on YouTube from a show performed back in March at Trinity College in Hartford. You can hear it in the practice songs uploaded to Soundcloud. These are the sounds of people having fun making bright, poppy music while they figure out how to make art together.
The final product of this collaboration is cleaner than the earlier recordings, but not perfect. It sounds like an artifact unearthed rather than something released. Everything wobbles kind of uncertainly and instruments can get lost in the mix, giving everything a rough-hewn murky quality. It’s unfortunate that we’ll never get this music in the clean fidelity which they deserve.
when i asked how you felt about dying
you said you stopped wearing your seatbelt months ago
Regardless of the quality, what bleeds through sonic limitations is that these are good pop songs. The four tracks range from wistful, tender love songs to pogo anthems about sex that make you want to pogo around your room. All four of these well-crafted songs have hooks done so well, you find them stuck in your head hours later. The great delivery by the dual vocals by Amy Mattox and Blaise Bayno-Krebs hop around as they growl, squeal, chant, harmonize and clash against each other. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s angry, it’s great and then suddenly, it’s over.
We should be glad that we got these four songs, at least. There’s no telling how many bands have come together and written songs this solid only to leave without any recorded. Dreams and self expression we’ll never know, that are only memories of participants. Bands that only exist as ghosts.
you come out at night because you are my favorite song
go back to your grave and find someone new to haunt
