KIDS AT RISK – KIDS AT RISK

This EP really does feel like a hark back to the late ’90’s Britrock scene. Aside from a heavy cockney twang infusing the vocals of Sep Caton (as far as one can tell, these boys are Sydney born & bred), there is a clear colouring of the high-octane pummelling guitars and yelping backing vocals that made Supergrass such a potent cocktail back in the day. Unlike so many (shudder to use the term) ‘pop/punk’ bands, Kids At Risk have an advantage over most others in that their songs actually have viable melodies, sharp lyrics and a sense of dynamic.  I Am A Fire could be seen as the cop-show introductory scene – hard, fast, full of rhetoric and bitter panic. By contrast, the melancholic harmonies saturating Sugar show us another side of the band – that particularly 80’s style of youth sentimentalism and head-swaying pop combined with a darkness of texture, bringing to mind the mid-paced ballads of the Cure, the Smiths etc. So, ignoring the truly awful album artwork, this first record could well set these boys up for a healthy career as an ‘energy’ band of some merit, rather than a dumb-faced hack-and-slash affair.

***