The Newest Noise for Your Listening Pleasure! | By Nicholas Senior
Help
Portland, Oregon
Help | May 28 | Self-Released
RIYL: Community service. Forward-looking nostalgia. Bad Beatles references.
Pick up Help HERE!
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. What we all need are more bands like Help. There’s a delightful nostalgia present on their debut EP, but it’s a rare healthy form of reminiscence that plays with adoration of grungy noise rock acts of yesteryear and tugs at the heartstrings with memories of one’s first punk show. It doesn’t hurt that Help is also visceral and noisy, feverish and fervent. References to METZ are inevitable, but there’s somehow more aggression and subtle melody at work that elevate Help into their own class. It also helps that the band’s passion isn’t limited to a shared destruction of their instruments and vocal cords; Help aim to unite through art and push for better, more collaborative and creative communities. “The injustices happening on a daily basis are out of control, or so it seems,” vocalist and guitarist Ryan Neighbors elaborates. “I want the lyrics to be able to strike a chord with people. If people in our communities help each other out and strive to do better, it can go a long way. Art can do that too. Even if it just makes the listener remember that things are pretty fucked up right now, it keeps a passion alive.”
