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Coffee Project - Concrete Boots EP

Coffee Project

Concrete Boots EP

Coffee Project, the pop-punk-flavored acoustic (and horn) outlet for Rehasher's Jake Crown and Less Than Jake trombonist Buddy Schaub, released their first full-length, Moved On, last year. While a fun and often-silly expression of alternate joy and catharsis, it was plagued by over-the-top vocals and a lack of surefire hooks or truly palpable sentiment. With their follow-up EP coming so quickly, one's got to wonder if the duo realized their potential and come up with something truly great.

Concrete Boots is not that truly great release, but it's a marginal improvement from Moved On. There's greater stylistic variation and the execution is more consistent. Opener “Shenandoah Valley” is a bluegrass romper where the vocal delivery is more understated than usual, and its overwhelming twang is just a surprising and enjoyable left turn for the band overall. The title track becomes a sweet affair complemented by female singing and more deliberate enunciation in the chorus. “Laid Up” relies on the band's more familiar, looser vocal style, and the song itself carries a more emphatic feel akin to Iron Chic's “Every Town Has An Elm Street.” “Exit Stage Left” and closing cover of the folk standard “Little Boxes” are more forgettable, though.

There have been far greater stripped-down affairs unleashed this year, but Coffee Project are improving. If someone is looking for a more lighthearted and loose approach to the acoustic format, this quickie EP might do the trick, even if it is extremely front-loaded.

Paper + Plastick http://paperandplastick.com/

“Shenandoah Valley”