Album Review: You Vs. Yesterday - 'How's This For Honesty'

Last month, U.S. pop-rock group You Vs. Yesterday released their long-awaited sophomore EP, 'How’s This For Honesty'. I actually first found out about this band shortly after the release of their debut release, 'Remember This', and once they finally announced this new EP, I was curious, nervous but also excited to hear new music from the up-and-coming pop-rock band.

First off, the piano-driven intro of opener 'Silver Lining' caught my interest immediately and once the hard-hitting drums and guitars kicked in, I couldn’t stop listening to it. The vocal performance on this song (and honestly, across the majority of this EP) really impressed me as well. 

'Open Door Policy' is up next and while the piano in the background may clash a little bit with the band's tight pop punk-style instrumentation, it adds more to the song and makes it a bit more unique than the genre's standard power-chord tune. The titular track is probably one of my favourites on this entire release. The vocal performance blew me away - more so than the last time - and the honest lyrics here are a great aspect of the song as well. 'Wishful Thinking' is the second to last track on here and it slows things down a bit. The vocals really shine on this penultimate cut and you can really hear the emotion in the singer's performance due to the tone and overall musicality of the piece being so much more relaxed.

The lead single 'Chip On My Shoulder' closes things off and does it so, so well. The guitars on this track are well composed and blend together in such a lovely manner, the lyrics are incredible, and the vocal performance is as captivating as it was throughout the four previous tracks of the EP. Not only is it a really strong lead single but I also don’t think there could’ve been a better track to close out this release with!

All up, I find that across it's five-songs, the 'How’s This For Honesty' EP shows a far more mature and a cleaner, more polished sound for You Vs. Yesterday; something that bodes very well for where they take their sound down the road.

1. Silver Lining
2. Open Door Policy
3. How's This For Honesty
4. Wishful Thinking
5. Chip On My Shoulder

'How's This For Honesty' is out now, stream it below: