Transit - Stay Home [EP]

Run For Cover Records

September 16, 2009, 08:20 PM

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Transit from Massachusetts, USA are a melodic post-hardcore band, almost raging with the testosterone fuelled angst you’re likely to find in your younger brothers bedroom. You know the type I’m talking about... the dark schizophrenic corners of the hormonal boy, emotions so spiky and raw they’re screaming to be heard by somebody that actually cares, but who does care? The parents either find the entire situation amusing, or are so scared and troubled at how they’re wondrous boy could have turned so crazed and the siblings are of course another source of emotional venting. So the boy is left with two obvious options. Cry to his friends about his confusing state of awareness and risk losing all credit for his ‘attitude’. Or pick up his guitar and let all that pent up aggravated energy bleed out into a cataclysmic creation of fire, throwing it all around the room in speeding sparks of burning sound, thus creating a noise which fans of the genre give a dam about. This amalgamation of feeling vs. creation is similar to what you’ll find on Transit’s latest release, "Stay Home".

The issue here is, Transit haven’t quite mastered it yet.
"Stay Home" is a six track EP that collectively feels incomplete and unpolished. With an uneven sound and limited use of key-change, tempo and composition the overall production feels chaotic and awkward. A situation you’d expect from earlier demos. Opening with track one, ‘Stay Home’ it erupts within seconds of play to the ‘loud and fast’ rules so commonly heard within this genre, yet it doesn’t have the presence to amaze you. Listening to the EP intently is uncomfortable and would be well suited to the likes of background music on skating games for the PS3, or at a push the ‘Rock’ radio station on GTA.

Track three ‘Stays the Same’ is an ironic anecdote to the overall sound of Transit’s latest work. As consistently throughout the EP, it feels as though you are listening to ‘Stay Home’ (Track One) on repeat. The lyrics and vocals fashioned by Joe Boynton are inaudible and distorted into a sound worthy of drunken chants hollered after a gaming success with flowing lager and cigarettes. Other tracks include, ‘Nameless’, ‘Atlas’ and ‘Riverside’ are all consistent with the cluttered mix of thrashing guitar rhythms, crazy fast drums conceived with plenty of double-kick frenzied footwork and again the vacant vocals.

Overall, Transit has noise and the right attitude for success, but where they gain in these areas they also fail in general musicianship, and completeness. Transit are all of young age ranging from 16 – 21 years, and are all undeveloped in musical experience and compositional knowledge. Transit seemingly have no common ground within themselves musically and this reflects strongly in "Stay Home." All the bands egos are thrashing around trying to get heard within the complex rhythms of the bass lines and melodies. The result is this almost organised chaos that has no benefit to the genre, which in itself requires tight intricate riffs, engaged with punchy drum beats and composure melodically.

After reading reviews and listening to Transit’s previous work, it feels that their tight and well composed work peaked too early to give them lasting grandeur, and we’re left feeling a little premature for the excitement we felt for Transit’s previous records.

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