Return For Refund Lifts You Up With New Release
Return For Refund is bringing back "classic rock." That much is very true. When listening, I'm brought back to every single time I lost the battle for the radio with my dad. The rock band from Toronto followed up their 2014 self-titled release with a six-song EP, "Lift You Up."
For every person out there wearing your dad's AC/DC t-shirt listening to Metallica's black album complaining about being "born in the wrong generation," stop it. Just stop. Go listen to some Return For Refund and remember that now you have iPhone 7s.
They have already attracted some major attention. They were listed as one of TMAK
World's top ten indie acts of 2015, played on numerous Canadian college radio station and reached number four of CFOU Trois-Rivieres' album charts. I'm here to help convince you to listen to this album. Listen to this band -- if you need some analysis, here it is.
Don't You Say: The introduction definitely threw me for a loop. If it is destined to be on the radio, the beginning of the song needs to be cut down a little bit. The vocals bring me back to some classic rock. METALLICA. "Don't you say I'm wrong. I've got no time for your abuse, take your briefcase and get out." The context of the song is definitely on the more relatable side of things and the way it is presented releases a lot of anger. Bringing it together with the electric guitar solo that even my dad would be bobbing his head along with, was a great way to give an introduction to the type of album this is. I would love to hear more pronounced and clear vocals -- at some times it seems that the instruments drown Drew out a bit but overall it was really good.
Lift You Up: To me, I felt that it resembled that classic rock vibe with the rhythm but surely left that behind with the instrumentation right before the chorus came in. This is much more balanced than "Don't You Say," and overall has a much more put-together feeling to it. It keeps the great guitar solo before the last choruses. I thoroughly enjoyed the backing vocals as the song headed towards its end, but once again would have loved to have more pronounced vocals. There are a few moments where I couldn't truly understand what was being said.
Nothing Left: The beginning of the song reminds me a lot of the beinning of "One" by Metallica just pushing that influence even further in my opinion. I will say that not only the fact that RFR was able to write a song like this, but the fact that they do it well, shows that they are versatile. By this point in the release, you should just assume there will be a great guitar solo - it's a given. In the future I would like to hear even more of a drastic change in tempo or to continue the slower pace instead of picking it up with the chorus. If we are to continue the Metallica comparison, I want to hear RFR's "Nothing Else Matters."
Stay Awake: We pick up the pace once again. This is a song that will get stuck in your head. It is catchy and despite being seriously head bobbing, the way Drew sings some of these lyrics is just fun. This brings in more of a Foo Fighters vibe to it as opposed to just Metallica but it's nice to hear a change. I'm at a disadvantage having not seen them perform this song live, but I would think this brings a great crowd reaction.
What Were Their Names: The connection that Drew has to the lyrics in this song are most evident here than they were in any of the previous ones. "How many Gods are now forgotten?" It seems like a pretty dark song when you listen to the lyrics but that's what makes it most appealing to me. I can see my dad listening to this song, which is how I judge rock songs. I get my music taste from him and I know what he likes and what he doesn't -- I think he would have this song.
My Gun: Did we find their "Nothing Else Matters?" I think we might have found it. This is quite possibly my favorite song off of this release. Every aspect of this song I think is the best on this album. I love the harmonies that come in during the verses, the vocal shift is fantastic, lyrically it is beautiful and I think the overall production value of this song is simply better. I usually don't suggest keeping the ballad-esque songs until the end but because of my previous statements, I think it was the perfect finale. It brings in the harder guitars and drums towards minute three but ends on those haunting vocals and melodies that we hear in the beginning. I'd love to see more songs like this in the future.
I think it's safe to say that the overall theme of these songs aren't necessarily happy. If you wanted to listen to songs about friendship and pizza, you're in the wrong place. But the sheer emotion and serious context that these songs hold are part of the reason why they've been so well received and part of the reason why I seriously dig this album.
However, there are some things I will be critical about -- as an objective third party. Like I've previously said, when listening to this album, it resembled Metallica to me. When I was introduced to this band it was referenced if you like "Pearl Jam," and I understand that. What I would like to hear in the future is more of their personal sound development. With songs like "My Gun," I think we've started to hear just the slightest bit of that and I'm excited to see where it goes.
All in all, I'll give "Lift You Up," a solid 7/10.
I think the production could have been cleaner and I would have loved to hear them take more risks.
Do you guys agree? Disagree? Hate me? LET ME KNOW! I wanna hear back from everyone! Until then, make sure you hit up Return For Refund on Twitter, Facebook and Soundcloud.
