Folk and rock have a hybrid together on the new Psychopath Etiquette – Rough Draft EP. The band are a duo out of southern Main, consisting of David Sprague and Paul Sprague, two fine musicians who’ve been at it with various projects over the last decade. The first EP features “When Anxieties Attack” and they have a full-length album coming behind it. Each song holds its own with the next and they all go together and deliver what is a set of tunes to think about while you listen, not just merely tap your toes. These brothers are precise at what they do.
Kicking off with “Trash (Treasure)” making a lyrically humble move, it is not so hard to immediately get into, especially if you follow lyrics. The music of Psychopath Etiquette relies as much on vocals for these six tracks, so the emphasis on that cannot be avoided. The typical scenario of putting yourself last in a relationship is explored and it goes over well. But the next song is even better, with “Life” making a stronger effort to draw you in as the words about wearing the heart on the sleeve doing the usual good business here.
As the tracks get better and better as they go, “All My Time” is about maintaining a relationship and identifying chemistry and things anyone can relate to. The folk element comes first here but it’s the vocals that keep it that way, while the music sweeps it in along. I like this song because it hits where time can either be all we have or have none at-all, so it is a never-ending subject of investment. If I could spend all my time listening to music, I would, but it’s not realistic, and that’s were time on relationships takes a lot of elbow room.
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The happiest track on Rough Draft is “Heart Vs. Head” with a more rocking sound showing the harder side of their music at the peak of these six songs. But even though it rocks harder than the others it also belongs in the set without question as it helps the mood, pumps you up and keeps your attention for the rest of what’s to come. This might even edge the others out for me, but it could change later, it just won me over the most when I first listened to the EP in its entirety.
With only two tracks left to go, there’s much more than it seems with “Show And Tell” brining the tempo back down again for another lovely piece with some great lyrics and another great backing arrangement. This reminds me of a mixture of their influences which include Modest Mouse and Third Eye Blind’s quieter aspects. It’s all very good, and the last track might even be Rough Draft’s magnum opus but that too is yet to be seen. “When Anxieties Attack” has been heard by a lot of listeners and lights the way for the release like any opening track would usually do, so it’s a case of being well worth the wait to hear it after the whole EP.
by Mindy McCall, posted by Jodi Marxbury