Review of No Push Collide Album by Serafin

Serafin’s ‘No Push Collide’
Serafin’s ‘No Push Collide’ Album Review

Serafin’s

No Push Collide

Taste Media

The follow-up to a low-key tour including a residency at the London Barfly. This was the first time I’d heard Serafin on record properly and I was curious to see what they sounded like. You can hear subtleties on the album that you couldn’t live so it’s different and that makes it hard to compare one to the other. One of the first songs on the album is Day by Day, the next single, which is just as good on record as live. A fast paced tune with subversive vocals which grow to almost screaming.

Music - Serafin’s ‘No Push Collide’

The album starts off with a stormer, Stephen’s in the Sky with the most baffling use of minimalist lyrics. You could say that there are religious overtones but that would be too quick a judgement just because it contains the line ‘some god with finish there’. Whatever it means, it’s a dark, driving tune that goes with it. Of all the tracks on the album, among the best is No Happy, which sounds like the White Stripes doing Placebo. It’s got a great hook that sounds a little like that off of Day by Day.

There are varied sounds; it’s not all dark, intense songs. Some are happier, more hopeful tunes such as ‘Ordinarily Me’ despite the seemingly bitter subject. Again, it sounds like Placebo, specifically Ask For Answers, at some points. At other times there are overtones of Radiohead in the melody in tracks like ‘Green Disaster Twice’ and ‘Who Could I Be?’ but without the melancholy of Radiohead.

There are quite a few influences on this album or, at least, that’s whatit sounds like. Echoes of Nirvana can be heard in tracks like ‘Build High,Tear Low’ where they may not sound the same but following the same sortof structure of chaotic choruses tempered with quiet verses. It’s workedto good effect and whilst there may be many influences on this album, Serafinhave managed to create an album with a distinct identity. If you like any ofthe other bands referred to then you’ll like this album.

Natasha Perry

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