Release Date: November 30, 2011
Since 2004, The Pharmacy has been furiously touring the States and the world while releasing small EPs and LPs as they go. The band’s sound has stayed, for the most part, the same, but the recurring theme of its work is the ability to make you feel alive and excited about music again. The group’s new EP, Dig Your Grave, is no different.
The production of Dig Your Grave still has that lo-fi feel that gives the feeling the band recorded it in one take. There isn’t any studio trickery or bells and whistles that are trying to get you to buy the EP, and The Pharmacy isn’t being dishonest with its abilities as a band.
Although it’s only four tracks long and clocks in at around nine minutes, the EP doesn’t feel like that when you listen all the way through. The variation in style from one song to the next pulls you in as a listener and really gives you a lot to think about and reflect on.
“Dig Your Grave” is a fast, full-band jam out. The keyboard riff alone in the intro and outro of the song sounds like a church that has a rock band orchestrate its hymns. Not to mention that for being two minutes long, the drumming is intense and intricate; each little transition is annotated perfectly. There are about five different guitar and bass riffs that make the song feel like a journey and not verse-chorus-verse.
The other songs on Dig Your Grave really show that The Pharmacy isn’t concerned with commercialism or sounding pretty for the radio. The song’s an interesting mix between quality indie/pop/rock songwriting mixed with the energy and attitude of punk rock. When you listen to each instrument in detail, you realize that the most subtle differences in the way the band members play their instruments show their mastery of the craft.
They don’t strut their songwriting abilities in a gaudy fashion; The Pharmacy creates catchy pop songs that sound simple and easy to play, but they are actually complex pieces of music.
The closer, “Burn Your Bridges,” is a finger-picked guitar singalong. A first-time listener is given a refreshing, lyrically based song. “Burn all your bridges down/Sink them in the Puget Sound/And all the seagulls gather ’round/To shit while burning bridges down,” are strange lyrics, but you can’t help but sing along to them. “Burn Your Bridges” is as catchy as it is emotionally moving. Even if you couldn’t understand the lyrics, the melodies of the song are universal to the heart. It’s as fun to sing as it is to say as it is to hear.
Dig Your Grave is a nice EP to have on 7-inch. The cover is ghostly and looks almost like punk rock from another planet. The black and white photo on the back makes the guys in the band look like they’re ready for war. It’s not an EP to miss out on, and The Pharmacy is definitely a band to watch for when it releases its next LP, Stoned & Alone, this year.
The Pharmacy – Dig Your Grave tracklist:
- “Dig Your Grave”
- “Pines”
- “Lazy Bones”
- “Burn Your Bridges”
