How many Green Day Songs does it take to make a Joshua Lloyd EP? Five.
Joshua Lloyd is a London Based Songwriter On his debut release, ‘Sick When I Wake Up’. a five-song EP that’s almost perfectly balanced between the positives and the negatives. Hard to pull them apart into a coherent list, we’ll go through them as they come.
The whole product is exquisitely produced. The value and the attention to details and the execution are all big points of strength on this record. Clear sounding guitars with sensible crunch all the way through, crisp drums and fresh, energetic fills, boomy bass, even the vocals, despite being a point of contention, are beautifully mixed and placed within the spectrum. The songs are well paced, not too long, not too short. They’re all full to the brim of great memorable hooks and are enjoyable enough… So, what’s the problem? Well, it’s just not original.
It’s very admirable when an artist carries their influences proudly upon their sleeves. It’s brave and commendable. But it’s not so when your influences color the work so much to the point where it lacks character and individuality. Sorry, Joshua, but this whole project is totally laced with Green Day and Blink 182. Perhaps it’s understandable that the genre of Pop Punk as a whole doesn’t really allow a great room for novel ideas. Punk is a clearly defined style of music, and to make it Pop, you just simply don’t have a lot of wiggle room, and that’s understandable. Yet, it’s difficult to swallow that the five songs sound so much like each other and like other Pop Punk.
The vocal melodies are a tad repetitive, in spite of the deliveries being very sharp and capable. ‘Suffocating’ features a very quirky and ear-grabbing guitar riff, and a sick trap beat, it’s only a shame that the next song, ‘Unlucky’ features a very similar riff… and an almost identical trap beat. You get what I’m saying.
A great producer, and one that’s perfectly capable of capturing and reproducing a sound. An able vocalist also. Perhaps this project should have been a 2-part single, that, in my perspective, would have greatly maximized the impact of those 2 chosen cuts. In the end, needless to say, if you especially enjoy Blink 182 and Green Day, this whole project is an actual no brainer.
