Grieving – Demonstrations (2016)

Grieving are a new band from Cambridge who have taken over the music scene with their distinctive twisting art-punk. They have recently released their new EP, Demonstrations, containing five great individual tracks that when combined call for a great album.

The EP starts off with the track, ‘My Friend, The Ghost.’ A song welcomed with a soft guitar strum that slowly builds up and is carried through the entirety of the song. The distinctive and calming vocals of James Parrish eventually join the guitar and help construct the song. The chorus sets out a different tone to the verse as it is more powerful and dominant. It makes a presence for itself saying we are here and we are only just getting started.

‘Ownership’ holds a different presence to the first song. It starts off quite strong with an intense guitar solo. It is an edgy song that is more defined and sure of itself. I feel as though the band has become more comfortable in the album now and they showing off the different directions they can take their music. ‘Ownership’ is about just that. Owning a partner, someone to love, someone that you can call yours. When you have finally finished searching and you have found the one. The band has the ability to present their beautiful concept in such a raw and powerful way.

‘No Sleep’ is a track on the album that holds so much meaning. It is a song about insomnia, about not being able to fall asleep and being annoyed and agitated. The song follows suit and holds this exact idea throughout the whole song. The instruments are sharp and edgy. Almost annoying, just the way they intended. This track also contains instrumentals that are repetitive but this coincided with the image behind a sleepless night. The words are sung harshly which represent some dark underlying emotions. When I first wrote a review for this song I said that I was torn about it, but now listening to this song with the rest of the EP I have understood the style of Grieving and the messages that they are trying to portray in their songs.

‘Little Armoured’ starts off slow and soft just like a few of the other songs. The band starts to get more into the song and the subject of the song until it builds at the end to an angry and more forceful ending. The instruments are more intense and sharp and the vocals are stronger with more danger to the words like they are trying to protect something. A little armoured don’t you think?

The last song on the Demonstrations EP is ‘Warmest Jets.’ It is a great closing song for the band as it really shows their full capacity. The instruments come into harmony with the vocals and the band really works as one in this song. I like how they carried the same tune throughout the entirety of this song, as well as their other songs, as it adds a sense of stability to their edgy music and gives them a certain distinctive tune.

This EP has been successful in showing all the different angles that their music takes and how diverse they can be in five different songs. One thing I have noticed with Grieving is that they thrive by making the guitar the dominant instrument, each song starts with the guitar and ends with it. The guitar has taken the place of the drums and it has even overlapped the vocals. By doing this, it gives the impression that the guitar shows the real emotion throughout the song and leads the vocals in the way it chooses. I like how they have created a space for themselves through this EP as the songs are quite different to anything that has been heard in the music world.