Afterglow If Saves The Day were still pumping out tunes regularly with a vocalist this confident, paired with the musicianship of The Early November and Thrice, you’d find the sound of Kiss The Scientist. On their debut EP, called Better In My Head, the Los Angeles emo band showcase why they are already making waves in the revived emo/punk scene. The band is a four-piece unit comprised of Maxwell Tomack-Villalobos, Devin Rodriguez, Nick Anoci, and Kevin Middleton, and their great chemistry is on display over these slick six songs that make up their debut EP. With a classic pop-punk/emo sound rich in the lore of the AbsolutePunk days of old, Kiss The Scientist carry the torch for the next wave of emo bands today.
”Smile” begins cautiously over an acoustic guitar and somber piano strokes as they sing, “Good morning, soldier I’m afraid / The walls have fallen, I can’t see a thing / The clocks remain, but I can’t stay / So please send home this letter / Don’t it make you smile?” The song then accelerates through to the finish live with a brazen electric guitar sound, while the vocalist’s cadence and delivery is somewhere between Thrice’s Dustin Kensrue and The Early November’s Ace Enders. “Afterglow” follows with a similar energy, as Kiss The Scientist begin with a great, opening guitar riff before building up to the pre-chorus lyrics of, “So sick of all the shitty lies / Think no one else can make me cry?” It’s one of my favorite songs to come out this year, and it highlights what makes this band so special right out of the gate.
”High” starts with some steady drumming, before breaking away into a summery guitar riff, as the vocalist croons, “Nobody knows where I’m going / Does somebody know where I’m coming from? / I look back I’m all alone / In my worst nightmare / I’m just a no one somewhere,” to paint a vivid picture of self-discovery through the navigation of intricate relationships. As the EP unfolds with other tracks like the mid-tempo and anthemic “Lightweight” it recalls the best days of Summer, driving down to the boardwalk with the windows down. “Brendan Fraser (Gloom)” breaks up the frenetic energy of the first five songs with an all-encompassing ballad that takes the listener on a great journey about reconnecting with someone who you haven’t seen in years. That feeling is a great one, and Kiss The Scientist keep the vibes shimmering on Better In My Head more often than not.