EP Review: Sisteray - She Likes The Drama

There are some things in life which are simply amazing; the smell of freshly cut grass, waking up after the biggest drinking session of your life without a hangover, you and your partner having an energetic morning… er… run. You get the picture.

But one of the most amazing feelings has to be that moment when you hear a song for the first time and you feel like everyone needs to hear this. The world needs to know how brilliant this is and I’m going to bore my mates to death with it until they agree with me. On the 3^rd of April at about half past 10, while on my third cup of tea of the day I had that feeling.

That was roughly the moment that through the wonders of social media I discovered Sisteray.

Sisteray are Niall Rowan (Lead vocals, guitar) Daniel Connolly (Guitar, backing vocals) Michael Hanrahan(Bass) and Ryan Connolly (Drums)And with a bit of luck I really think that this little 4 piece indie band could go far. They are gigging all over the place and are building up quite a following as shown by the fact they have previously sold out the 100 Club. Yes that 100 Club. (If you don’t know what the 100 Club is do a bit of research and you’ll see why that’s a pretty big deal)

Now after a few emails back and forth I got sent this, a record called She Likes The Drama which is the band’s latest EP release, and it’s really very good.

The title track gets things underway and not only is this the lead single it’s also my favourite track off the record. To start with everyone can raise a smile to this one because we’ve all known that girl who loves the drama a little bit more than she should! Anyway, it’s catchy; it’s slick and will be going round and round in your head for hours. Basically as far its singles go it’s pretty flawless.

‘Rollin’ Over’ follows a similar pattern. It hasn’t quite got the same catchy guitar riff but does include a nice little solo towards the end. Again the band have put together a hook that will get stuck in your head, and that is something that really can’t be underestimated when it comes to putting tracks together.

The penultimate track can be summed up by one word. FEEDBACK!!!! More specifically guitar feedback. The idea of using feedback to drive songs is one of the reasons why I fell in love with Hendrix, and that use of feedback and the slight distorted sound it gives off is why ‘I’m Free’ is a great track.  It falls somewhere between Oasis and T-Rex, and shows that there is a little bit more to the band than just happy go lucky indie tunes for teenagers in skinny jeans.

Final track ‘Coming Up’ sees the boys return to more familiar territory, with more understated vocals and catchy guitar riffs and drum rhythms. Another good chorus will have you humming along in no time, simple and incredibly effective.

I knew I was going to love this record from the moment I saw the cool retro artwork. This is the old school being presented for a new generation. There’s a real classic British indie and at times almost Brit-pop feel to the music while at the same time it retains a certain freshness. The vocal is distinctive without being flashy and the guitar work is often quite simple but keeps the songs skipping along incredibly well.

Sisteray haven’t reinvented the wheel here, more put nice new tyres and some shiny new alloys on the wheel that was already there. This record is like meeting someone and the pair of you enjoying the night of your life because you’ll never get the chance again, except you know that not only will both of you still be there in the morning, you’re to be doing this for the next 20 years. It’s fresh and exciting yet familiar and reassuring.

In short, it’s simply brilliant.