Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
If you’ve got through the last few years without seeing the name Static Dress crop up somewhere, you’ve either been stuck inside for the last two years (good joke, right) or you’ve not been paying any attention to anything at all whatsoever. Having performed alongside a huge range of bands from emo legends Funeral For A Friend to metalcore favourites Counterparts and playing a part in the return of live music at last years Download Pilot to name but a few things they’ve been up to, they’ve been rising at an incredible rate and they’re still climbing.
Their brand new record ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ – which I initially read as ‘Rogue Carpet Disaster’ and wondered what it is that can make a carpet roguish – demonstrates a band completely in control of their vision and equipped with all the tools to make it come to life. Produced by Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe and with everything else coming from the band, including all their videography and photography, they’re leading the charge for the UK’s wing of the emo, screamo and post-hardcore revival that’s been bubbling away over the last few years. Look, I know that it never really died or went anywhere, I’m an emo kid at heart too, but it’s been a while since a band in the genre that isn’t one of the core giants had this many eyes on them. There’s high expectations for this, and you’d better believe that it delivers them.
All the singles painted such a good picture of what to expect from the album. ’sweet.’ is a bold and upbeat belter that sounds exactly the way the song title suggests it would, blending nostalgic screamo vibes and biting guitars with uplifting choruses that’ll have you hooked from the first listen. ‘such.a.shame’ shifts the spotlight to shine on their emo stylings, borrowing a touch of its flavour to make a soaring anthem of their very own. ‘fleahouse’ provides a harder hitting taste of the same, rolling up the distortion and the aggression to make a more rounded package that touches on everything they’re influenced by, and that’s essentially what the rest of this album does. You can hear elements of certain genres in every song, sure, but this is far beyond being pigeonholed to just one style.
For example, ‘Push rope’ sees them lean into Rival Schools-esque post-hardcore but with brighter melodies and a lot more unpredictability, keeping it fresh and preventing it sounding like a carbon-copy. ‘Lye solution’ has a huge emo hook for a chorus and a wonderfully spacious middle section and outro that subtly nods at the likes of Underoath and The Devil Wears Prada. ‘Di-sinTer’ has some huge Taking Back Sunday moments, and there’s so many more little nuggets like these scattered throughout the album. There’s a lot of nostalgia buried within this, but you’ll never fully put your finger on the exact root of it because they’ve masterfully put their stamp across all of it.
‘Attempt 8’ is a stunning step back from the more aggressive side of the album, as is the beautiful ‘Marisol’, both showing the band’s ability to move from distorted power to tranquil delicacy without compromising their identity. Even when they dial the intensity down, those songs still stand tall alongside absolute riots like ‘cubical dialog’, ‘Courtney, just relax’ and the one with the classic super-long song name ‘Unexplainabletitlesleavingyouwonderingwhy (welcome in)’, and that’s not an easy feat. They’ve really thought about how the album flows, and you reach the end of the album not entirely sure how much time has passed. You just know you loved what you experienced.
This is an exciting record on the surface, but after the first listen you’ll realise that it’s a little bit more than that. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but they’ve captured everything that made post-hardcore and the genres the orbit around it so exciting and brought it all into the now, making it feel brand new all over again. They’ve breathed fresh air into it, and it’s given their music that ever-desirable quality; the potential to stand the test of time and be an album that people look to for inspiration. I’m just going to say it – this could become a modern classic.
Static Dress aren’t just a good band – they’re important, and ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is a record that’s going to make their pin on the map just that little bit bigger. This isn’t just a must-listen for fans of the genre, this is a must-listen. Period.
DAVE STEWART
Their brand new record ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ – which I initially read as ‘Rogue Carpet Disaster’ and wondered what it is that can make a carpet roguish – demonstrates a band completely in control of their vision and equipped with all the tools to make it come to life. Produced by Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe and with everything else coming from the band, including all their videography and photography, they’re leading the charge for the UK’s wing of the emo, screamo and post-hardcore revival that’s been bubbling away over the last few years. Look, I know that it never really died or went anywhere, I’m an emo kid at heart too, but it’s been a while since a band in the genre that isn’t one of the core giants had this many eyes on them. There’s high expectations for this, and you’d better believe that it delivers them.
All the singles painted such a good picture of what to expect from the album. ’sweet.’ is a bold and upbeat belter that sounds exactly the way the song title suggests it would, blending nostalgic screamo vibes and biting guitars with uplifting choruses that’ll have you hooked from the first listen. ‘such.a.shame’ shifts the spotlight to shine on their emo stylings, borrowing a touch of its flavour to make a soaring anthem of their very own. ‘fleahouse’ provides a harder hitting taste of the same, rolling up the distortion and the aggression to make a more rounded package that touches on everything they’re influenced by, and that’s essentially what the rest of this album does. You can hear elements of certain genres in every song, sure, but this is far beyond being pigeonholed to just one style.
For example, ‘Push rope’ sees them lean into Rival Schools-esque post-hardcore but with brighter melodies and a lot more unpredictability, keeping it fresh and preventing it sounding like a carbon-copy. ‘Lye solution’ has a huge emo hook for a chorus and a wonderfully spacious middle section and outro that subtly nods at the likes of Underoath and The Devil Wears Prada. ‘Di-sinTer’ has some huge Taking Back Sunday moments, and there’s so many more little nuggets like these scattered throughout the album. There’s a lot of nostalgia buried within this, but you’ll never fully put your finger on the exact root of it because they’ve masterfully put their stamp across all of it.
‘Attempt 8’ is a stunning step back from the more aggressive side of the album, as is the beautiful ‘Marisol’, both showing the band’s ability to move from distorted power to tranquil delicacy without compromising their identity. Even when they dial the intensity down, those songs still stand tall alongside absolute riots like ‘cubical dialog’, ‘Courtney, just relax’ and the one with the classic super-long song name ‘Unexplainabletitlesleavingyouwonderingwhy (welcome in)’, and that’s not an easy feat. They’ve really thought about how the album flows, and you reach the end of the album not entirely sure how much time has passed. You just know you loved what you experienced.
This is an exciting record on the surface, but after the first listen you’ll realise that it’s a little bit more than that. I don’t know how they’ve done it, but they’ve captured everything that made post-hardcore and the genres the orbit around it so exciting and brought it all into the now, making it feel brand new all over again. They’ve breathed fresh air into it, and it’s given their music that ever-desirable quality; the potential to stand the test of time and be an album that people look to for inspiration. I’m just going to say it – this could become a modern classic.
Static Dress aren’t just a good band – they’re important, and ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is a record that’s going to make their pin on the map just that little bit bigger. This isn’t just a must-listen for fans of the genre, this is a must-listen. Period.
DAVE STEWART