Cooper Horton - Somewhere In The Middle

Cooper Horton

Somewhere In The Middle 
self-released; 2014

3.3 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Cooper Horton is a band that sounds like the definition of emo pop punk. On their recent EP Somewhere In The Middle they have all the criteria in place. Horton has a hopelessly nasally young sounding voice, the songs are fast and will most likely appeal to a younger demographic of teenage girls. If you aren’t into mall punk, pop punk or whatever the heck else you want to call this then this won’t convert you. However if you need a consistent rotation of Blink 182 and New Found Glory in order to get through the day then you just found your next favorite band.

Regardless if you like this music or not the production is pretty tight. It sounds better than your average DIY effort and in fact could compete with most commercial releases. The guitars strike with ferocious tenacity, the drums are powerful, yet the vocals are still clear and audible.

The first track is pop punk 101. It’s full of clichés of the genre but nonetheless is a well written song and is probably the most single worthy song of the batch. It rocks pretty hard and I could see this song amping up a live audience. “The Beast We Built” was a highlight. The opening riff contained a bit of funk and reminded me of Franz Ferdinand. When the chorus comes in it is rather epic veering toward post-rock tendencies.

The guitar playing on “The Past Tense” is pretty sick at points. In particular right after the minute mark, which has a slick lead part that I wanted to be extended. The closer “Somewhere In The MIddle” is a pop punk version of nostalgia. A solid song all around and a wise way to close out the show.

For the type of music Copper Horton plays they do it pretty darn well. Like I said fans of the genre will eat this up. 

Become A Fan

bandcamp

Tweet