EP Review

State Champs - The Acoustic ThingsState Champs – The Acoustic Things

New York pop-punkers State Champs are set to release a brand new 7 track EP called ‘The Acoustic Things’ on the 6th October through Pure Noise Records, the EP features 5 re-worked versions from their critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Finer Things’ as well as 2 brand new tracks.

Anyone who has checked out State Champs on the live circuit or listened to their debut album ‘The Finer Things’ will know exactly how energetic the band are and how much passion and energy they put into each and every song and each and every live performance, and that is why I find ‘The Acoustic Things’ to be an very important release for the band as it sees them in a more natural stripped down environment where the band get to wear their hearts of their sleeves and really show off their more serious and mature side.

The EP kicks off with ‘Elevated’ a song which was originally released as a single back in the summer of 2013 and also happened to be the punk rock anthem of the summer for so many people due to its bouncy nature and massive in your face catchy vibe, however with the acoustic offering things are more serious sounding as everything is stripped down and unplugged sounding and it’s so good to compare both versions of the songs as they are equally as important and great sounding but in totally different ways.

Despite being stripped down and acoustic ‘Deadly Conversations’ still remains some of the energy and passion from the original and Derek Discanio’s sound that little bit more gravelly and raw sounding in places which works perfectly with the acoustic surroundings.

The acoustic offering of ‘Simple Existence’ is pretty damn beautiful sounding, whilst ‘Easy Enough’ is another a great song full of passion and gang vocals which work so well in its acoustic setting. ‘Leave You In The Dark’ is the first of the new tracks on the EP and it a pure chilled out song and happens to feel a lot more real and chilled than any other song on the EP and I guess that is because it was originally written for the acoustic environment unlike 5 of the songs on the EP.

The EP closes with ‘If I’m Lucky’ which happens to be the second out of the two new songs, and it is a great song, a song which flows ever so well and features some of the most passionate vocals ever from Derek Discanio, really sweet acoustic guitar sounds, claps and so much more.

It’s always good when a full on energetic pop-punk band decides to go down the acoustic route as pop-punk and acoustic music seems to go hand in hand and it is always good to see that more serious side of a band and I feel that State Champs have done a fantastic job with ‘The Acoustic Things’ as they have managed to strip down some of their most loved songs to perfection whilst also writing a couple of new acoustic classics.

4/5

Review by Trigger

 Band Members

Tyler Szalkowski
Derek Discanio
Tony Diaz
Evan Ambrosio
 Track Listing

1. Elevated
2. Deadly Conversation
3. Hard to Please
4. Simple Existence
5. Easy Enough
6. Leave You In The Dark
7. If I’m Lucky

 Band Related Links
State Champs Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?