Restorations

A/B [7-inch] (2012)

Kira Wisniewski

For whatever reason, it seems that a particular city or region's music scene will all become super prolific at once and really make its' mark on a certain genre. D.C. had its heyday of straight edge punk in the '80s, southern California's brand of early '90s pop-punk is undeniable and right now Philadelphia seems to be having its moment in the limelight. The genre isn't as easily classifiable as the other two examples, but the bottom line is there are a hell of a lot of great bands coming out of the City of Brotherly Love these days. Restorations are certainly among the bands that are making a great name for Philly.

And just like the city's sound being hard to characterize, Restorations continue to be undefinable, yet clearly have a sound that is their own. A/B is a natural next step from their 2011 self-titled release. Jon Loudon's gravelly voice augmented by shimmering, mathy guitars and beautiful crescendos are all still very much present and help articulate the band's dynamic, signature sound.

The two-song 7" clocks in at a little over 10 minutes, and actually is a lovely progression in and of itself. "A" starts off with a guitar strumming along and then the whole band comes crashing in several bars into the song and continues to build and build. Flip the record, and then "B" just soars. This is going to sound so silly, but there is a chorus of swelling "woahs" that gets me every time. It's probably my favorite track of theirs to date.

It's visually a beautiful little record too, with cover art by Brooklyn-based artist James Ulmer. And for all you vinyl nerds, the first pressing of this record will include 75 on red vinyl, 90 on yellow, 125 on green and 210 on blue vinyl, making 500 copies in all.

For those of you keeping score, Tiny Engines has a pretty solid track record of releasing great EPs, so don't sleep on this one y'all. This 7" will continue to please people across the board and will make a great addition to that summer mix you've been working on.