THREE OF THE FIVE’s “self love” screams across the sky with an animalistic fury. Deep within these two tracks, THREE OF THE FIVE prove what rock is supposed to be – loud, confrontational, fraught with emotion, and defiant. A huge ruckus is commanded with ease by this power trio, as the guitars rip on through with gleeful abandon. Rhythms here crush everything in their path, for they harness a physicality to their sound, ensuring that there is no escape from the gigantic sound. For a trio, they conjure up a shockingly high degree of volume, for the two tracks hit like pure walls of sound.
A fiery, post-punk ethos reigns supreme over much of the sound for they are not afraid to embrace gnarled riffs and uneasy tempos. Nods to groups like Dry Cleaning’s intense glare adorn the sound, for the lyricism has that same pointed wit and insight embedded into it. The noise rock element goes a little further back, for elements of Shellac and Scratch Acid also inform the entirety of the two pieces, for they are not afraid to let everything push deep into the red.
“drown” starts up from the first second, as the ragged, raw guitar introduces the piece before the rest of the group gets into it. Upon the establishment of the groove, they race on by with such urgency. The bravo of the piece, the way that they offer up a performance of hyping oneself, feels all too real as they hold absolutely nothing back. Exploring deep into the insecurity that drives narcissism, the song has a power to it, one that becomes all too familiar for those who have decided to act in that fashion, trying to convince others desperately of their own worth. Messaging itself hits to the bone, and they neatly flip this idea on its head with the follow-up “doctor, diagnose me! (self love)”. For this track they change the script, instead of lying, they go for self-reflection. Interesting to see how much duality the entire collection possesses, but by putting these two tracks alongside each other they are able to explore critical concepts of what it means to be alive in this very moment with incredible ease.
“self love” shows off the exquisite skill of THREE OF THE FIVE in delivery a virtual aural punch to the gut, as lyrics focus on the duality of what it means to be alive, the performative along with the introspective, treating both sides with the utmost of care.
