Establishing themselves as primarily a live act with only a few singles and an EP behind them, Adelaide’s self-proclaimed ‘literature rock’ three-piece Sincerely, Grizzly have delivered their debut albumHalves.
By ‘literature rock’, Sincerely, Grizzly mean that they’ve attempted to give some narrative flow to Halves in terms of more than just their lyrics. Random static radio waves and inaudible voices dot the album here and there, and in the middle of the album there’s a 41-second track of mostly guitar looping and noise. Why? Because narrative.
That aside, the album’s a fairly strong debut that delves into grungy, angsty territory without getting too emo, despite a few lengthy titles such as ‘I’m Nucky Thompson. This Is Atlantic City’ suggesting otherwise.
Given this is Sincerely, Grizzly’s first full-length release, they’ve allowed themselves plenty of wriggle room. They don’t particularly stick to one sound, and instead explore the various subgenres of rock from hardcore to post-rock, the latter especially present on nine-minute closer ‘Kafkaesque’.
However, for fans of early Fall Out Boy and Anberlin, there are those emo vibes here as well.
2.5/5.
Halves is out now through Black Night Crash/MGM.
