Often Wrong The Figs are Starting to Rot
FFO: 90s INFLUENCED EMO & POST-HARDCORE / LISTEN
The days are getting colder, the trees are losing their leaves, and Often Wrong's debut EP, the figs are starting to rot, couldn't have arrived in better fashion, for the group's stripped-down and raw take on 90s post-hardcore feels fittingly weary for the season. Opening track "Kintsugi" and the closer "Slipping Under" are certainly heartfelt and melodic enough to provide the EP with a warm exterior, but there is a distinct coldness to the production that really brings out the best of songs like "Your Tailor" and "Embrace," where the group takes a more dissonant and spacious approach to composition, even utilizing detached spoken vocals in a way that evokes the barren solid-state landscape of Slint's Spiderland. Often Wrong's songwriting has a simple, rugged charm to it that really allows Oscar McManus's vocal performance to shine as he adapts well to both moments of tender confession and fits of explosive collapse, and while I would have loved to hear some more dual vocal dynamics as seen on the opening track, this EP is overall a solid foundation for a band that is thanklessly filling the void of melodic emo in Vancouver's underground scene. The figs may be starting to rot, but from the carcass of fruit springs nutrition to soil, and it will be exciting to see how Often Wrong grows from here.
