The Zap Guns - The Zap Guns

The Zap Guns

The Zap Guns
self-released; 2019

​​3.8 out of 5

By Rebecca Rothschild

The Zap Guns debut self-titled EP The Zap Guns packs a decent wallop for just four songs. Falling on trend with rock bands making classic rock statements with bold, vintage sounds. There are a lot of fresh ideas mixed in here as well.

​The opening song is “Ghosts" and it's a keeper for me. Wicked, dangerous and ironic. I immediately fell in love with the vocal work which is theatrical but not smarmy or overdone, love at first note. Also worth mentioning for this song is the lyrics. There are some songwriters who are just verbal gymnasts, and this is gold medal wordsmith work for me. From this song alone I was able to gauge all the influences and places we might be going on this EP. It's rare an opener is my favorite, but that's exactly what happened here.

The second song "Dahlia" was a big surprise. The tone on here was much more classic rock and Americana rock. There was a nice solid bass line along with a little pensive quiver in the vocal performance which made it feel intimate. This one had an interesting additive in the production that gave it a vintage ’80s pop feel. I can't say that I was completely over the moon for this one as I was for "Ghosts." I feel like this song was about creating an atmosphere more than anything else, and definitely redefined my mood upon hearing it. There's something here, again, the production on here was pure in its delivery.

Next up, "Waiting For You." This one kicks up the tempo and we go into a nice pop/ pink rock setting that is bursting with color and energy. Of everything that is packed into this song, I thing I ended up appreciating the most was the drums. The lyrics were a little hit or miss for me, but other than that, I feel like this one definitely fell under what I expected and in a mostly positive way.

Lastly was "The Devil's Range." Here I was getting a thick classic rock vibe. Again, the production is amazing. Without the high end production I do think this song would have sounded very dated. To be honest it felt a little dated even with the stellar production. I feel like there's a push to project the listener to music of decades past. There are lots of band that do this but I think they almost run too parallel at times as is the case with this song.

Overall, this EP is interesting, definitely noteworthy. I seem to like the music best when it deviates from well traveled roads. There are moments in every song on here that demonstrate original and fresh thoughts. I think the trick for me is the ratio of how often they use those kind of sounds. I cannot commend the production enough. I would be very curious to hear what a fully fleshed out album would sound like.

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