Review of Sessions EP (The Two Koreas)

This review was written for the Music Emissions website. Check out the review, and check out the site!


The Two Koreas, Canadian indie rock band, are back with their newest EP, Sessions. This is a long EP, almost forty minutes, with seven tracks. The Two Koreas are Stuart Berman (Vocals), Kieran Grant (Guitar), Ian Worang (Bass), Jason Anderson (Keyboards), and David Gee (Drums). On their myspace page, the band likens the EP's release to that of a "blog-post update", reminding us that they are still kicking and still working after a long wait.

There are a couple really catchy songs on this little recording. One of my favourites is Withering Heights, the first track on the album. It's straight through with jangly guitars and a thrumming rhythm, and is definitely the highlight of the album for me. Boy Teen Oslo has some great guitar work, and the bass line is simple and effective throughout. I also quite like Cloth Coat Revolution for the discordant guitar noise and the drum work that keeps it all together.

While the album has some wonderful points, the negatives are also there. Personally, I'm not wild about Berman's vocals, but I understand there's a great deal of subjectivity in that statement. The EP is, as I mentioned, quite long, and sometimes the pace drags through some of the comparatively slower-paced songs such as Steely Can and Hotel Christiana.

All told, this album is pretty good. There's a lot about it that I like, and only a couple things that I don't. With the Sessions EP, the Two Koreas have hit most of the right bases. You should listen to it, it's the work of a band that's still moving forwards, and that's a fairly refreshing.