My Spacecoaster

Item: EP2
Author: BW Diederich

EP2

(2002)

Reviewed by BW Diederich

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Label Lujo RecordsDecapolisJanuary 2003

dance rock emo indie rock

My Spacecoaster are a, as stated in their bio, "not so rock outfit" from Dallas, TX. "2" is their third release overall, and their second ep. They've evidently broken up four separate times, this ep comes after the most recent breakup and subsequent regrouping. It's out on Lujo Records.

Most bands have both strengths and weaknesses, you know? I mean, most bands do certain things well and when they try their hand at other things you applaud the attempt at branching out, but then firmly demand they stick to what they're good at. Case in point, My Spacecoaster. I've never been a huge fan of the band, but I've recognized they're good at one thing, crafting these dance-y rock songs that, and yes, I'm going to do it, fall squarely in the emo category. COME ON! How can you avoid it? With lyrics like, "I wonder how we got this far apart?" over staccato drumming and dueling guitars, it's just plain as day.

The first track is everything good about poppy emo. And yes, little one, I do think there are good things to come from poppy emo. No, I'm being serious! The idea of catharsis is and more than likely always will be important to me. I've long thought the idea of catharsis through dancing and clapping and singing semi-witty emotional lyrics with friends is a good thing. And some of the hooks we've been given are HUGE. But back to My Spacecoaster. The first track comes out all up in arms. Think the first get-up kids record or the really poppy parts of a The Jazz June song. It's driving and the chorus is defiant and hurting all at the same time, "You don't love me, you don't care, you don't need me, you never did." Unfortunately from here it goes a bit downhill. Virgin has the beginnings of a catchy track, but it's inexplicably sans vocals? So ends up as a forgettable attempt at instrumental musings.

Round is a forgettable ballad. The lyrics are nice enough, and there's nothing outstandingly bad about the song, it's just not memorable in any real way. So we move on to Surprise. The fourth track and this one's another ballad but more stripped down. You can hear the "...and we're rolling" starting it all off followed by silence until an acoustic guitar comes in. It's hard to fault the song because you can tell the delivery is heartfelt. It's a very obvious ode to a faith that is important to the singer, and as I said, it's hard to fault that. The track isn't overtly strong to be honest, the arrangement of the song isn't much to yell about, but the lyrics are heartfelt and the flawless segue into the last track can be applauded.

The last song sees the band returning to what they do well, i.e., that dance-y rock thing, that is until the middle. It slows down near the middle and all of a sudden they're playing competent post rock builds only to fade away into one last drive of the main hook.

So here's my take. Good show kids. The first track made me love you a bit. The next two are throwaways, but the last two have their strong points. Ideally though, you should stick to what you're obviously good at. The first track and the first part of the last track are almost ridiculously good for what they are. I mean that chorus on I Don't Care is just insane! So do that again. Write big choruses and hurting yet defiant lyrics and throw in a simple stripped down affair for the heck of it.

B-