Dead LakesNew Language (EP)

The latest signing to SharpTone Records direct from Seattle (we’re listening) is Dead Lakes’ debut on the scene after a year of work on the record.

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Beginning with an off-kilter Close 2 Me, they crash through our speakers before settling into that mid-paced wandering soul croon emo-pop-rockers seem to be in love with.

Song structures are limited to light, drum-filled verses and guitar-laden choruses ala Awaken I Am or HandsLike Houses. It’s cut from the same mould. Electronic sounds creep in Paradise, another latter-day Bring Me The Horizon clone; nogodsnomasters a copy paste of what came before.

If you can’t get enough of that ultra-clean “heavy” pop of Bring Me or Too Close To Touch, you’ll find something to love here.

SMS Happiness feels like a a cross between pensive reverb-drenched Biffy Clyro ambience and brooding I Prevail heaviness, singer Sumner Peterson again wearing his heart on his sleeve. A cascade of chiming guitar washes over synth soundscapes, revealing a denser sound on second spin. Breathy vocals and sawn-off guitar crunch permeates New Language; Peterson almost approaches some kind of intensity, but falls just short. Each chorus suffers from the “millennial scale”—three or four semitones up, one down, then three up again—trust me, you’ll know when you hear it. Because it’s everywhere.

Dead Lakes debut EP is a mish-mash of the done before, rolled up and deep fried in a vat of meh. They do seem like accomplished musos, but there’s a faintness of heart here, a lack of individuality. If you can’t get enough of that ultra-clean “heavy” pop of Bring Me or Too Close To Touch, you’ll find something to love here.

STANDOUT TRACKS: SMS Happiness, Close 2 Me
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Too Close To Touch, Bring Me The Horizon, Awaken I Am