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Boston Manor, a five-piece alternative band out of Blackpool, England, released Desperate Times Desperate Pleasures on October 29, 2021. This grungy EP is packed full of five tracks that just don’t let up. Continually driving forward, each song is a gem of its own but collected together they really make this EP shine.
“Carbon Manor” propels us into this EP with a gritty riff reminiscent of the 90’s. With a heavily filtered guitar feature and lyrics screamed through one of the verses, that grit protrudes through the entire song. I feel like I just rewound a VHS tape to the anti-piracy ads that were prominent at the time, but in the best way. It’s nostalgic, but somehow refreshed.
That refreshment continues into “Algorithm,” which boasts a more relaxed feel than the previous track, while still being upbeat. This song really showcases Cox’s vocal abilities, backed by the rest of the band his voice really shines.
“Desperate Pleasures” kicks things back into high gear. This song sounds vengeful, like lyrics spit through gritted teeth at someone who’s done you wrong. It’s in your face, while the harmonies in the chorus give it a softer touch. It’s a balancing act between anger and hurt, neither one outshining the other but colliding and creating this absolute powerhouse of a song.
“I Don’t Like People (& They Don’t Like Me)” drops a sepia filter over everything, with a grungy and dark sound. Where “Desperate Pleasures” felt angry, this song feels sad, anxious even. The track creeps in quietly, tiptoeing as if trying to avoid that one stair you know squeaks. Then, it opens up through the first verse into the chorus as you finally make it up the stairs to your room where you can shut the door and revel in being alone. The glitchy guitar you’ll find wedged between the chorus and the next verse is like finding an old journal tucked between other books on a shelf, one full of all the thoughts you can’t bring yourself to speak out loud to anyone.
“Let The Right One In” has to be my favorite of these five songs. It’s chilling both musically and lyrically. “Your love is like diamonds/your past is like coal” is one of the most gripping lyrics I have heard in a while. There’s so much urgency throughout the music in this song, while the lyrics seem to hang on to every second, stretching themselves thin over the rest of the sounds surging beneath. It’s a beautiful dichotomy that gives the song a great deal of strength, even as the song is dying out. All the way up until the abrupt and final beat.
Desperate Times Desperate Pleasures takes a step back in time in terms of influence. You can hear the tracks drawing parallels with late 90’s punk and early 2000’s post-hardcore, while vamping those nostalgic sounds up with their own Boston Manor flair. These five songs are well curated, flowing into one another while still remaining distinct and playable individually. Releasing this EP before heading out on a US tour in support of Neck Deep is surely bound to propel them forward as more people discover the brilliance of Boston Manor.