EP Review: Ends

Bleach are a bit of an enigma. The Wellington trio of David Jiang, Christian Fawcett and Jacob Thornton keep a notably low social media profile. But this quiet little band has achieved something quite special with their debut EP – Ends.

Bleach describe Ends as being:

“…About the people we once were, and the people we are so rapidly becoming. It speaks on the rat race of life, dealing with themes of friendship and camaraderie, love lost, home, and ever present change.”

Add to this other themes such as generational frustration, depression, resentment, regret, and harsh self-reflection, Ends becomes a beautifully melancholy EP. Crucially, it avoids devolving into self-pity or nihilism, offering instead a quiet stoicism and a feeling of hope for better times.

Each song uses space brilliantly. Even with frenetic multi layered instrumentation the songs are never cluttered. Lyrics – while often hard to discern – are cleverly thought out and largely avoid cliché.

The singles Patterns and Superdown start the EP off strongly and provide a stable platform that Ends builds on. How Do We Remember? introduces the first eyebrow raising experimental guitar sound in the solo, which on first listen seemed somewhat disjointed for the style of song, but after repeat listens this feeling fades with familiarity.

Still starts as a gentle and controlled waltz that gradually builds into a powerful, chaotic and flailing crescendo like dance partners arguing in the middle of a ballroom competition, but unwilling to leave the floor. A Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque staccato picked blues-bend in the solo is hard to ignore as it stands out in contrast to the rest of the song.

Ends concludes the EP with an upbeat initial motif that again builds to a climatic yawp of frustration before leading into the guitar solo that again drew my attention with some unconventional use of tuning at the start. The song ends abruptly, a decisive full-stop for the entire EP.

I have mentioned the interesting portions of the guitar solos on the last three songs of the EP, this is not a criticism, just something that stood out to me as a bit quirky. Bleach have somewhat of a formula for their songs, and perhaps the more experimental guitar solos and sounds are their way of not becoming ‘formulaic’, a point of difference to keep the listener guessing.

Bleach list their inspirations as Jeff Buckley, Smashing Pumpkins, Wunderhorse , Pinegrove and Fontaines D.C. However their sound and style may remind listeners more of Kings of Leon, The Fray, or, closer to home, Op Shop.

Bleach’s Ends is beautifully orchestrated and produced, with a strong vocal performance across all tracks. This is a slick collection of songs that are genuinely worthy of mainstream airplay. Bleach have crafted a sound that comfortably straddles the divide between pop and alt-rock.