highway battery - the august

Highway Battery

The August
self-released; 2014

3.3 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Highway Battery is stripped back, bare bones rock/pop group  consisting of Ian Bradshaw (guitar lyrics and vocals) and Dominic Sirkin (drums/harmony/lead guitar). The guys had been jamming for years before they started to work on ideas that appear on their first EP entitled The August. The songs were  recorded with no outside help and sounds like what you expect from such an approach. For the most part the songs sound like demos. That being said there isn't much instrumentation which is helpful  when you might not have the best gear in the world and the mixing chops of Michael Brauer. On top of that the EP does successfully display their  abilities and songwriting chops.

The first track entitled “Intersecting Lines” revolves around a simple chord progressions played on clean electric guitars, drums and vocals. Bradshaw has a good voice and lyrics that are clever and thought out . He sings “I want you to know that I wrote you a love song Instead of writing down your flaws and moving on I'm sorry it ended this way, Like intersecting lines both going our own ways”.

“El Diablo” is  only a little over a minute long but an impactful song. The songs only instrument is an acoustic  guitar that supports the vocal work of Bradshaw and Sirkin. Verdict; they sound great together. They have very different voices but have pleasant, disparate qualities when combined.

“Simplicity” isn’t a bad track but the below par recording quality does take away from some of its visceral impact. They close  with “(One More) Favor” which is arguably the highlight of the EP.  The lead guitar creates a warm atmosphere that worked well in the song.

The August is a decent starting point for the duo displaying their potential. As of right now this is a case of wait and see but Highway Battery had an overall successful first effort.

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