Escrow Jay - Escrow Jay

Escrow Jay

Escrow Jay
self-released; 2016

3.5 out of 5

By Jame Funk
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Rudy G (guitar/vocals), Paul Gallegos (drums) and Tanvir Bajwa (bass/vocals) are the three members of Escrow Jay. The band originally formed a little more than half way through 2015 and has accumulated some songs and released a self-titled EP Escrow Jay. 

The EP was completely DIY and I was quite impressed with what I heard when seeing that they actually recorded the music. This music does translate pretty well as lo-fi. In fact the band No Age kept coming into mind. Escrow Jay has this art punk vibe that is really easy to enjoy and that's really where the band excels. 

Things get going with “Dying Wishes” which was an odd choice for an opener. It moves a bit slowly. I liked the rolling drums and vocals but the energy doesn’t pick up till the end. “The Noisy Headrush to the Mountains” has some solid moments but the band really sounds great on “Mosh It Out!” The vocals are aggressive, raw and catchy. It’s a fun paced, high-energy song, which is definitely a strength for the band. “Sobredosis” is a four-minute jam session relying on lead guitar, which isn’t too far off from sounding like something you would hear from The Doors. The band has more success on “Sirens of The Oceans” which takes away from art punk bands like Liars and No Age. 

“Grapes” is a literally bubbly sounding song not too far from early Pavement while “Deep Pressed Venom In My Veins” gets more intense as it progresses. They close with “Wait For Me” which certainly has its moments. 

​Escrow Jay did impress me with this demo but they certainly still have a lot to prove. Most importantly they need to be finding their “sound.” They skip around a lot and looking at the demo as whole it feels like scattered ideas and one-offs rather than songs with a cohesive vision. Given the fact the band has been around for so little time I couldn’t really imagine it being much more then that. The band has got some skill so as long as they can define that and get into a proper studio at some point I expect to hear good things from the band soon.

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