New Manhattan – Trying my Hardest demo EP review

In today’s competitive music industry, many bands are trying very hard to generate that unique sound that might strike their lucky charm. In doing so, they end up having more band members than fans. Gone are the days when a band only consisted of four key people, or are they? I’d like to introduce you to New Manhattan. Coming from UK’s capital, London, New Manhattan is a raw band comprising of a singer, a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer. After all the influence I’ve been getting from this music scene, a four piece band doesn’t seem to sound right. So time to sit on the sofa, and do it the English way; enjoy a cup of tea and a pudding while listening to New Manhattan’s demo EP; Trying my Hardest.

The sparse, echoic guitar on the first track, Try Harder, combines smoothly with the desolate bass and drums to create a spacious soundscape for Eli Carvajal’s slightly lazy, almost bitter vocals. The break into the pre-chorus is a breath of fresh air, leaping into a bouncy rhythm and riff that inoculate energy in to the track. The chorus itself is an intangible object of beauty; the slow build-up reaching to the garage-rock thunder of the chorus proper. The overdriven bite of the vocals adds a sense of desperation to the track; “I’m trying my hardest baby/Why don’t you just listen to me?” The immediate guitar solo after the chorus flings the song straight into the garage-rock, post-punk era. It is a snatching, electrifying and angry affair, perfectly mirroring the same anger that the undertone of Carvajal’s lyrics of unrequited love convey. The relocation of the verse lyrics in to the pre-chorus suddenly make them seem upbeat and defiant; “Don’t come around here, telling me what to believe,” and we launch back in to the build-up of the chorus. The song’s energy is built to a fantastic closing crescendo. It is in fact a brilliant EP opener, yet a tea spoiler. Warning! Not to relax and drink tea while listening to this EP.

The second track in the band’s demo EP, Come on, is short but fully pumped of rock n’ roll. The drum, bass and handclap mixed intro is reminiscent of The Ramones (Blitzkrieg Bop springs to mind), a likeness that is continued by the overdriven, bass-heavy guitar line in the verse. The chorus doesn’t let up energy as the guitar breaks into a repeated, reverb-heavy lick and the bass carries the chord changes with simple root notes. The simplicity of the snare and hi-hat combination of the drummer carries echoes of The Strokes. The bridge allows the song time to breathe, and gives it an extra boost of energy to launch in to the final verse and chorus. The posturing of the lyrics are verging on ridiculous; “You’re mother’s never home, Means we can be alone,” but allow the singer to show his wild mood emotional swings; a swaggering macho-man in the verse, soulful poet in the bridge and band leader in the chorus. Come On is a perfect break between the anguish of Try Harder and the irony of the track that follows in this EP; Another Night (Tonight).

Another Night (Tonight) starts with a hard guitar bite, entering in to, apparently, Eli Carvajal’s meditation on a girl and on youth culture in general. The weariness and irony of the vocalist comes out in the lyrics, and it turns out to be one of his greatest strengths. “One day you will happy for me” is a heartbreakingly simple challenge. Then a seeming punch line of the song “Losing yourself in the night with a stranger, Who don’t like it when you don’t pretend? So you pretend” is a biting satire on young party life. The fast, jumpy rhythm of the guitar is grounded by the interplay of bass and drums in the verse, which finally break out in to the spacious pre-chorus; a descending riff that builds tension to the rock n’ roll tumble. The real triumph here is the ending of the song, where the interplay of overdriven, reverbed guitar, heavy bass and tight drumming end the EP in style!

New Manhattan are startlingly for their age. At sixteen, they’ve managed to infuse a kind of Englishness to the simplicity of The Strokes and the driving rhythms of The Ramones, as well as sounding sort of like The Libertines without the ska. I am personally quite amazed with these guys. If they are sixteen they only remember the Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera era, but yet they are able to come up with such great vibrant music. They sound far older and wiser than their years suggest. The guitar is angry and noisy, the bass creating the groundwork of every song, the drums keeping a steady, driving rhythm for every track. The bashful sincerity of the singer’s lyrics add a personal edge to the music, to create a very interesting appeal overall. They managed to create small and personal snapshots in every track. With three tracks only lasting seven minutes, the songs are lean and chiselled, but perfect for smashing around in your room. This band certainly deserves to, and probably will, go far.

New Manhattan demo is available for free on the New Manhattan official bandcamp.