Last Full Measure - Divide EP

Last Full Measure

Divide EP
self-released; 2015

3.9 out of 5

By Mike Przygoda

Divide is an EP by Last Full Measure full of hauntingly powerful rock songs soaked in shoegazed buzzing guitars, powerful drumming and some gorgeous vocal melodies.

“Don’t Come Back” opens the EP with thunderous driving drums, shoegazing reverbed guitar and a lyrical nod to Nirvana. The song is animated all the way through with swirling guitars that chime and soar, and propulsive drums that move between a melodic tom pattern and explosive flourishes. Vocally there’s a calm direct delivery that serves as a nice contrast to the expansiveness of the accompaniment. The melody is catchy and the instrumental outro well earned.

“Pro” is a mid-tempo meditation In ¾ time. There are some Bends-era Radiohead influences in the guitars and melodic line before the song moves into My Morning Jacket territory with melodic slapback echoed guitar lines. Moving from some clever lyrics to a wordless melody at the end, the song evokes a resolved melancholy.

“Proud” continues the Radiohead vibe with the vocal melody set against an arpeggiated guitar and a bass playing a low countermelody. The song builds into a stoner rock chorus with fuzzed out guitars playing a monster riff. It’s no small feat to be able to evoke dynamics over such thick textures, but Last Full Measure cleverly navigates through that challenge ramping the energy up and back, and though the running time is the longest on the EP it never feels that long.

The EP closes with “Throw Away/Lose,” an acoustic folk song.  It’s beautiful, intimate and haunting, though it does feel like a bit of an anomaly grouped in with the songs that come before it. That’s not to say it would benefit from the instrumentation that occurred before, in fact it really stands out and shines on its own, almost like a Ben Gibbard solo song. Having something else on the EP, one more song to bridge over the contrast in sound might help the song sit easier with the other three. That said, again it’s an extremely well written and performed song and an intriguing invite to whatever the band releases next.

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