La Dispute/Koji split, Never Come Undone (09/05/2011)
La Dispute/Koji - Never Come Undone
Never Come Undone is a split release between acoustic singer Andrew "Koji" Shikari, and Grand Rapids post-hardcore band La Dispute, showing their more mellow acoustic side. With a total of four songs and a running time of 15 minutes, this is quite an easy listening release, something to enjoy in the background.
Michigan's La Dispute are at the forefront of the new wave of post-hardcore, and in just a few years and off only one album, have toured the world and developed a reputation for being an incredible and intense live band. La Dispute play a brand of modern post-hardcore, and draw their influences mainly from At The Drive-In, Hot Cross, Thursday and MewithoutYou, and this is evident on the majority of their releases.
As a complete contrast to the intensity of their EP Vancouver and full length album, La Dispute have released a series of EP's entitled Here, Hear. These recordings explore the band's more melodic, experimental side, and some of the songs are just vocalist Jordan Dreyer talking over a minimalist guitar line. By the third Here, Hear release, La Dispute had developed into using full songs with the entire band with something that resembled a standard song structure, rather than the experimental songs that were an entire narrative over simple guitar. On Never Come Undone, La Dispute have recorded two acoustic songs. One is a brand new song, calling to mind the songs off Here, Hear, and the other is an acoustic re-imagining of the track Last Blues For Bloody Knuckles, off their full length album.
La Dispute's first track off the album is entitled Sunday Morning, At A Funeral, and it sounds exactly like it could have been off the latest Here, Hear release. Rather than conventional singing, Jordan Dreyer has a spoken word style of vocals, bringing to mind those of Aaron Weiss of MewithoutYou, a massive influence on La Dispute. This track is a mellow track with Jordan's spoken word over the top, and while repetitive, is an interesting listen. The second track off Never Come Undone is a song that the band recorded for their full length, and this time around they have adapted it to an acoustic song to fit the style of the record. Last Blues, while lacking the emotional intensity that made the original so good, still works as an acoustic song,
Andrew “Koji” Shiraki comprises the other side of the split. A singer songwriter and activist, Koji uses his music and concerts to help the cause of the organizations he believes in, working with the groups Resolve and Humanity Now. Koji was named as one of Alternative Press magazine’ 100 Bands You Need to Know this year, and he has already released two split albums in 2011 alone.
His lyrics and performances revolve around positive messages for the youth of today, and that is reflected with the lyrics and the title of the first song on the split, Peacemaker. Koji's use of strings in his cover of Ted Leo's Biomusicology helps to add some depth to the song, and adds some awesome harmonisation . The piano works well in both songs on his side of the split, so hopefully he will continue to use one in the rest of his releases.
This album is great to just chill and relax to; it's perfect background music. While fans of La Dispute may not be happy with the direction the band have taken on the split, it is really just a progression from their Here, Hear EP series, and you can probably expect more acoustic releases from them in the future. The Koji side of the split is probably the stronger side, even though Last Blues is my favourite track from Never Come Undone. He has a great voice, and his positive messages mean he's an artist to keep your eyes on, he has a lot of potential.
Josh Mitrou
Michigan's La Dispute are at the forefront of the new wave of post-hardcore, and in just a few years and off only one album, have toured the world and developed a reputation for being an incredible and intense live band. La Dispute play a brand of modern post-hardcore, and draw their influences mainly from At The Drive-In, Hot Cross, Thursday and MewithoutYou, and this is evident on the majority of their releases.
As a complete contrast to the intensity of their EP Vancouver and full length album, La Dispute have released a series of EP's entitled Here, Hear. These recordings explore the band's more melodic, experimental side, and some of the songs are just vocalist Jordan Dreyer talking over a minimalist guitar line. By the third Here, Hear release, La Dispute had developed into using full songs with the entire band with something that resembled a standard song structure, rather than the experimental songs that were an entire narrative over simple guitar. On Never Come Undone, La Dispute have recorded two acoustic songs. One is a brand new song, calling to mind the songs off Here, Hear, and the other is an acoustic re-imagining of the track Last Blues For Bloody Knuckles, off their full length album.
La Dispute's first track off the album is entitled Sunday Morning, At A Funeral, and it sounds exactly like it could have been off the latest Here, Hear release. Rather than conventional singing, Jordan Dreyer has a spoken word style of vocals, bringing to mind those of Aaron Weiss of MewithoutYou, a massive influence on La Dispute. This track is a mellow track with Jordan's spoken word over the top, and while repetitive, is an interesting listen. The second track off Never Come Undone is a song that the band recorded for their full length, and this time around they have adapted it to an acoustic song to fit the style of the record. Last Blues, while lacking the emotional intensity that made the original so good, still works as an acoustic song,
Andrew “Koji” Shiraki comprises the other side of the split. A singer songwriter and activist, Koji uses his music and concerts to help the cause of the organizations he believes in, working with the groups Resolve and Humanity Now. Koji was named as one of Alternative Press magazine’ 100 Bands You Need to Know this year, and he has already released two split albums in 2011 alone.
His lyrics and performances revolve around positive messages for the youth of today, and that is reflected with the lyrics and the title of the first song on the split, Peacemaker. Koji's use of strings in his cover of Ted Leo's Biomusicology helps to add some depth to the song, and adds some awesome harmonisation . The piano works well in both songs on his side of the split, so hopefully he will continue to use one in the rest of his releases.
This album is great to just chill and relax to; it's perfect background music. While fans of La Dispute may not be happy with the direction the band have taken on the split, it is really just a progression from their Here, Hear EP series, and you can probably expect more acoustic releases from them in the future. The Koji side of the split is probably the stronger side, even though Last Blues is my favourite track from Never Come Undone. He has a great voice, and his positive messages mean he's an artist to keep your eyes on, he has a lot of potential.
Josh Mitrou