Is emo country a thing? Decide for yourself when you spin the new release by the Give & Take. This solo vehicle for Gibran Colbert, best known these days as the drummer of beloved Orlando pop-punk band Expert Timing, has found new breath from the pandemic. Great Pause, which could well describe this project, is his first collection in nearly six years.
Yet another child of quarantine, the five-cut EP was recorded using Colbert's iPhone, which befits, and perhaps even benefits from, the circumstances. Simple, unvarnished and unabashedly open-hearted, the songs are pure emo earnestness filtered through an earthy and rustic musical lens. It's up on the Give & Take's Bandcamp.
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Body Shop is the artistic union of musician power couple Kit Dee and Sam Crow, the respective fronts of Orlando bands Red Rodeo and Spoon Dogs. Their recent FL3SH WORLD EP is what happens when these two get shut in together during a pandemic.
Self-recorded on an eight-track and released by Tallahassee label RIP Records, FL3SH WORLD is a six-pack of lean, opiated punk songs boiled down to their essence. It's an entrancing affair that rides on a wire.
The EP is their debut as a duo, but Body Shop is becoming a band. Filled out with members of AOL and Problem Child, they just had their first full ensemble practice last week, so look for them. FL3SH WORLD is available on pink cassette tapes on RIP Records' Bandcamp.