With pop-punk and grunge being alternative music’s proverbial irresistible force and immovable object, it seems like an ideal time for Glue Foot to emerge from the woodwork and make a real impression. The Bristol / Cardiff trio’s new EP Seed is the ideal meeting in the middle of both genres – four tracks of sepia-toned emo prime for Tumblr reblogging and sticking lyrical bites over washed-out pictures of forests.
In terms of composition, it’s the grungier elements that make up a heftier portion with pop-punk more present in ethos rather than physical being. While sad boy peers like Superheaven dominate the genre’s contemporary populace, Seed sees Glue Foot injecting a bit more life into their sound, most noticeably in the bouncy Grangetown, a combination of Alkaline Trio and oft-forgotten mid-2000s emo bands like Kids Near Water.
It’s the most overt display of their genre cross-pollination, but the EP’s other three tracks manage to divvy up the sunnier influences between themselves well. Guilt Milk has a punkier strain of DNA weaved into its own, while Silk, arguably the EP’s most straightforwardly grunge moment, still manages to retain the momentum of its neighbours even though it somewhat lacks their directness.
The main problem with Seed is that it feels as though, over the course of these four tracks, Glue Foot have already broken out everything that’s in their arsenal. Sure, they’re veering left slightly from what other grunge bands are doing, but there’s a feeling that they’ve already reached their limit. Even final track Floating Like A Leaf feels as though that’s the case, tailing off into nothingness before an utterly needless shoegaze / spoken word outro. But of course, it’s early days yet, and that could easily prove to be false. There’s certainly enough talent to Glue Foot for that to be the case.
7/10
For fans of: Moose Blood, Seahaven, Balance And Composure
Words by Luke Nuttall
‘Seed’ by Glue Foot is released on 18th December.
