Basement: I Wish I Could Stay Here

Basement
I Wish I Could Stay Here
Run For Cover Records [2011]









Fire Note Says: UK group Basement get the whole emotional punk rock thing right on debut I Wish I Could Stay Here!

Album Review:
Sometimes when you listen to tons of music, as I do, it is easy to get a little buried in the media blitz that surrounds the scene and there are times I simply prefer simple quiet. What always snaps me out of this temporary funk is a band like the UK's Basement. The emo/post-hardcore group from across seas wraps this record up in under 30 minutes but never hurries to get there as each track possesses a perfect balance of grinding and mixing nicely paced guitars with micro-bursts of punk that flare up and then smooth back down. It is this swagger style that makes I Wish I Could Stay Here infectious, as the Basement lads are musically tight. Lead singer Andrew Fisher has a throttling growler of a vocal that powers through these 10 tracks but then in the same breath can take all the wind out and crawl the lyrics along in a cool manner till the next explosive moment like in album highlight "Earl Grey". Basement definitely do not redefine this genre on I Wish I Could Stay Here but with their high energy, stylistic song structures and confident deliveries, they are a band that knows exactly what they want and how to get there which I must admit - is completely refreshing!

Key Tracks: "Plan To Be Surprised", "Earl Grey", "March"

Bands With Similar Fire:
Jawbox
Title Fight
Seaweed

Basement Website
Basement Facebook
Run For Cover Records

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony