Four Marys - Sweet And Sour EP

  by Jonjo McNeill

published: 18 / 11 / 2004

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Review

I'm sure the Four Marys have been compared to Elastica before, and I'm sure they're sick of it. And I was going to try avoiding saying it, but I've already done it now. Sorry girls, but It's meant as a compliment. The 'Sweet And Sour' EP is a four track collection of angry prog-punk pop from this Newcastle all girl three piece, and is a highly refreshing listen. The title track is a bass heavy pop gem with a fantastically messy guitar riff and some extremely angry backing vocals. The lead singer, Christianne, is stylistically very similar to the aforementioned's Justine Frischmann, in tone and accent. But I'd dare say she's a tad angrier. 'Outside' is, If anything, even poppier, but even noisier and angrier with it. The cleverly named 'Instrumental' is a snappy little indie-disco number, but I'd gripe that they didn't write a song round this, as it sounds like it could be a quality little singalong. 'So Why Even Try' is my favourite here. More tuneful than the others, it jumps from snappy to laid-back and back again and has seemingly had a lot more thought put into it. This is a good sign of a promising band, who - with their high in the mix guitars, low in the mix vocals - are perhaps still feeling around for their sound. The songs on offer are excellent though, and I wait impatiently for more.

Track Listing:-

1 Sweet And Sour
2 Outside
3 Instrumental
4 So Why Even Try