EP Review: Emphasis on the P with Paraglow, Poppy & Primative Man

Paraglow - Parannoul & Asian Glow

This is the new collaborative project from two artists whose EP wells I've already dipped into in 2022. Parannoul's breakout album To See The Next Part Of The Dream was one of my favorite releases of 2021 and I was craving new music so badly I reviewed both the Parannoul ambient side project Mydreamfever's album Rough And Beautiful Place and the B-Sides EP that followed it with leftover tracks from Dream. Asian Glow on the other hand is dipping back into the well of collaborative EPs with recent breakout internet core artists after dropping the very solid Weatherglow collaboration with Weatherday earlier this year. Given that I enjoyed that project a lot and I love Parannoul this felt like a slam dunk. Unfortunately, no matter how much I listen to the opening track Hand I'm just not crazy about it. Even compared to the B-sides dropped earlier this year it just sounds too much like a song that wouldn't have made the cut on Dream because it doesn't have nearly as much life to it and isn't populated with catchy refrains. Thankfully the following song The Light Side Of The Eyes actually feel like both artists paving new ground. While the punchy bursts of instrumentation that I'm familiar with are on display there is quite a lot of vocal dynamism being shown too, not to mention an insane breakdown to punctuate the track. Swamp comes next and starts off with a pretty beautiful piano-backed arrangement before the sea of wailing guitars crashes into it. It has a loud quiet loud dynamic in extreme capacity and isn't afraid about switching back and forth often. This shifting style is stretched out and expanded upon across the 15 minute closing track Wheel which certainly has its memorable moments but also has trouble filling that runtime with them. 

Stagger EP - Poppy

Poppy has been one of the more interesting artists in the music industry over the last 10 years even through her ups and downs. The journey she's been on from synth-pop doll to thrash metal princess and now settling as a punk rocker halfway in between both has been enjoyable at every step of the way even when the music wasn't perfect. But more often than not the music has been not just good, but GREAT. I was happy to see her returning to the EP format because a few years ago she dropped Choke one of the best EPs I've ever reviewed for this blog. That shift to punk doesn't take long to rear its head on the blood-pumping opener FYB which stands for "Fuck You Back". It brings fiery refrains and ripping distorted guitars that are certainly familiar for punk but brand new for Poppy and serves as a great introduction to the record. The follow-up takes a bit longer to get where it's going even if it starts off with just as intense a demeanor, albeit quieter. The song isn't quite as catchy but its message is just as biting and it keeps up the album's energy level. The closing track Stagger is a much slower experience by comparison but that isn't unusual for Poppy EPs and I've liked some of her more reserved songs in the past quite a bit. The tight drum loop does get pretty obscured in the mix but still provides worthwhile backing for Poppy's sweet vocals. All things considered, it's more about the vocals and the hook, both of which are exactly where the song shines. In between these tracks we take a bit of a swerve into pop punk on Shapes which is by far the track that leans on Poppy's pop sentimentalities the most. The message is less targeted and more declarative which is cool, it just comes off as an outlier and has to be delivered alongside some obnoxious millennial pop "oh oh" refrains. By no means is this EP rewriting the book on Poppy or her sound but it's decently consistent and shows her taking on punk aesthetics better than a lot of her contemporaries who try their hand as punk rockers. 7/10 

Insurmoutable - Primitive Man

I'm far from the biggest metal head in the entire world, but anybody paying attention to music has surely seen what Primitive Man are doing. The Denver-based doom metal act has turned heads twice in recent years with their albums Caustic in 2017 and Immersion in 2020, both of which I still quite enjoy. Now they're back with an "EP" that is longer than a quarter of the actual albums I've reviewed this year, though it's made up of only 4 tracks. Two of those songs are just about exactly what you'd expect from the band in the form of 10+ minute brutal doom metal ragers. While there are some elements of sludge in their music I would firmly call Primitive Man among the bleakest of the doom metal bands and this record takes it to a new peak. Opening track That Life roars but with nihilism and pain above anything else. All the while this track is also quite technically impressive and the combination of stable but explosive drumming with little flourishes here and there does a lot to win me over. By comparison, the other monster of a song on the record Cage Intimacy is a lot more visceral. The throat-destroying vocals are raised much higher up in the mix and the song churns through its sections at a much faster pace. As a result, it wraps up faster and while I don't dislike it, it's not as impactful as the opener. A song I like quite a bit and one I suspect will be overlooked is Boiled a 7-minute dark ambient piece that lays on the sounds so genuinely thick that it actually kind of feels like being boiled alive. It achieves its goal to be an exhale between the two bigger tracks, but in the most doom-metal way possible as it insists on crushing you the whole way through. The closing track is a cover of Smashing Pumpkins Quiet and to call it unrecognizable would certainly be a sufficient description. While the vocal refrains can feel a bit wordy for their style of doom metal. even at 7 minutes long, ultimately I think this is both a solid rendition and an interesting addition to the EP. This is another very solid outing from Primitive Man and while the band doesn't quite reach the high points of a record like Caustic they show off that they still have the capacity to do great things. Fans will not wanna miss this if only for the opening track That Life alone, but given the capacity worked into these tracks, this is more than your average EP. 7.5/10