Symphonie

Deaf Girls (2015)

Max Qayyum

Symphonie is a project led by James Reynolds, formerly of punk rock band Rogue Set. This is an entirely different thing though - described as “synth-pop which you can stage dive to.” Quite an interesting description…

The four-track EP Deaf Girls kicks off with “This Rush of Blood” which immediately sets the tone. Bright and breezy synths lead the way as generic emo vocals come in later on. “Myla” carries on in similar fashion, and while samples are added in, it still feels pretty minimal.

“US Customs” and “Cold Beds and Night Drives” are also quite similar. They manage to craft well-written songs with interesting melodies, but it’s not something entirely new. This has been done for a long time, sometimes successfully, sometimes terribly.

The songs are good, but the “grit” that they want to retain seems lost, as comparisons to records such as Andrew McMahon’s solo EP seem more apt than perhaps punk rock records. It’s a nice jumping off point with well-crafted songs, though, but not necessarily different or genre-changing.

In fact it would probably work better without the need to be “punk” and just delve straight into the pop aspect which are the best bits of the EP.