Envy On The Coast
Ritual EP
(Equal Vision Records)
Envy On The Coast is (sort of) back. After having gone on what turned into a seven year hiatus and not releasing anything since 2010, the trailblazing post-hardcore outfit has come back with a new EP called Ritual. Only two of the original five members of the band are back on this new release, but the band still manages to hang onto their core musical identity.
Still, in this EP the sound is clearly lacking concurrent to the lost three members, who apparently became embroiled in some kind of interpersonal fallout with the two members who are now back under the moniker Envy On The Coast, Ryan Hunter and Brian Byrne.
Whereas earlier Envy On The Coast releases were markedly “post-hardcore,” Ritual occupies what could be called a curious, unique, and somewhat mellow space between hardcore, post-hardcore, and straight up indie rock, coffee shop jams. At times, the release, which is pleasant listening, almost sounds like a jazz album with the drawling instruments and equally drawling vocals.
There are, notably, few instances on Ritual where it could be said that vocalist Ryan Hunter is “screaming,” although screamed vocals do serve as one of the backbones of the musical space that Envy On The Coast helped carve out when it was still five members. The release does pick up the pace a bit with the song “How To Make A Man/Grenade,” which is the fifth track on the six track EP. Immediately following that song, on “Sift,” Ritual slips right back into the jazz/indie esque slow jams that end up defining the release.
One notable point of the record is that it does maintain the thought provoking lyrics that helped define Envy On The Coast in the past, with what feels like the “point” of the record being found on the song “Lioness,” when Hunter sings, “I like to chase the questions with the open ends.”
It remains to be seen how this musical progression for the project that is Envy On The Coast turns out, with the EP feeling like the band is detaching themselves from what originally defined who they are while not quite being attached to anything else yet.
