Celebration Guns bring a pop math-rock twist to midwest emo with their end of year EP, Midlife Vices, released on December 30th, 2022. I would highly suggest making this band one of your new 2023 discoveries if you haven’t listened already.
The opening track, “Dawgy,” is similar to opening tracks like The Hotelier’s “An Introduction To The Album” but with its own unique take on build up and breakdowns - a cinematic opening track. The vocals range from catchy singing to passionate shouting of heartful, truly emotional lyrics.
“Existential Love Song” is full of relatable and complex thoughts around love and the self. The track is twinkly sounding, lighter, and perhaps the most . This song feels like you need to be putting your hand over your heart while listening - at once the song takes you through the optimistic and pessimistic emotions of the absence and quest for love - a battlefield of a song.
Track number three, “Too Many Bandifesto,” is laced with nostalgia. This track has a killer bass line giving it at moments, an overall heavier dark sound. The song has fast and slower moments and I could imagine how great the live energy will be when this is played live. Much like the song, I imagine the crowd would be a build up of energy ready to be released.
Last but certainly not least, especially for guitar solos and riffs, the angsty closing track “Wrong Number” is a banger of an end track. I appreciate how while the riffs may be complex, especially in this song in particular, the overall sound remains poppy. You want to move your body, or more so, get into the pit!
Celebration Guns, a band from Arizona, define their sound as a mix of dream pop, indie rock, and noise pop. I think this band does a great job of incorporating these varying genres into a collective and whole sound - each track is unique while staying true to midwest emo. They are extremely tight and I can only imagine how their music translates live. I would suggest the band for fans of: Free Throw, Arm’s Length, Super American, Mt.Oriander.
