Album Review: Mayday Parade - 'Valdosta (EP)'

24 March 2011 | 8:38 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Step in the right direction.

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No matter what, for me Mayday Parade’s new material will now always be compared to ‘A Lesions In Romantics’ and to be honest with you, 'Anywhere But Here' was a major disappointment for me. In the wake of the band’s debut full length the band lost co-lead vocalist/ guitarist and song writer Jason Lancaster (now of Go Radio) and his absence was quite obvious in their second full length album. For a lot of people including myself it was a chance for the band to show that they were still Mayday Parade without Lancaster however they didn’t quite do that. Although the band can still ride on the incredible success of ‘A Lesson In Romantics’ they definitely have something to prove with their next full length. For now the band’s latest EP Valdosta although with only 2 new songs (and 4 re-worked) shows that the band might just be moving closer toward their old selves.

The album starts off with one of their new songs, and ‘Amber Lyn’ gives me a little bit of hope that the band might be moving in the right direction, it seems more ’A Lesson In Romantics’ and ‘Tale Told By Dead Friends'-esque .Mayday Parade do acoustic very well with its added violin and slight southern feel adding a nice touch. The record then moves on to a re-worked version of the very popular ‘Jamie All Over’ and when i say re-worked, what I mean to say is an acoustic version replacing Lancaster voice with drummer Jake Bundrick’s, to say the least he is giving a fairly solid performance however it doesn’t even come close when it’s compared to the original version, this acoustic version of the song seems to portray more of an emotional aspect then its original but in my opinion i think maybe they should have just left this one alone.

Kids In Love’ from ‘Anywhere But Here’ follows, and it is a strong performance, turning their fast tempo pop-punk anthem into a more emotional love balled, its cleaver guitar work and Sanders solid performance makes this a surprising success. Swing back into old school Mayday Parade with the less well knows ‘Your Song’, this song is completely slowed down from its original, once again with drummer Jake Bundrick not doing much justice to Lancaster’s uniquely sung lines with another mid tempo song turned into an acoustic balled. Even with the less impressive performance by Bundrick I think this track is done very well.

Terrible Things’ is the bands other new offering and closing track, this song reminds me of the songs on ‘Anywhere But Here’ but has the same kind of feel as ‘Miserable At Best’ with its acoustic piano opening, building up to the full band and Sanders convincing emotional lyrics on love and loss. Cleverly they have opened and closed their EP with their 2 new songs, starting and ending the EP on a fairly high note. Although it would have been much more satisfying to hear an EP full of new songs I guess this is all we have for now and it will leave diehard Mayday Parade fans eager to hear more.

This band has a lot riding on their next full length, with a lot to prove since the departure of Lancaster from the more successful 'Tales Told By Dead Friends' and 'A Lesson In Romantics' days and the release of their not so successful follow up ‘Anywhere But Here’, this EP seems to me a small step in the right direction, although its heard to tell from only 2 new songs whether this next album will come anywhere close to their first and regain lost fans but what I do know is this will have a lot of fans anxiously waiting for what their next full length will entail.

1. Amber Lynn

2. Jamie All Over

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3. Kids In Love

4. Your Song

5. Bruised And Scarred

6. Terrible Things