Somewhere, somehow, on an interweb grapevine that I often fail to fully understand the full intricacies of (my teenage son keep imploring me to be more atuned with the Instagram community as if it will cure all social ills and the post COVID economy), I heard that the power-pop brilliance of the late 90’s / early 2000s Memphis based act, Crash Into June, were reforming.

Sadly this is not the entire case (I probably just got my ‘tweets, likes and tags’ mixed up!) as this is the latest project of just 50% of them, being frontman and lead guitarist, Dave Norris and drummer, John Boswell. Thankfully, despite the dilution of all things yesteryear, a similar level of quality is omnipotent on their debut  All We Have Is Ourselves EP.

The best of the release is heard in the opening double salvo of the superlative This Charade and Lifeline. Taking the Grand Prix style Teenage Fanclub level of fuzz laden power-pop and adding a whirr and extra intensity that moves slightly towards the softer climes of Dinosaur Jr, these tracks locate the sweet spot between fuzzy grumble and allowing the beautiful jangled riffs to force their way to the surface.

The beauty never really threatens to desist throughout the EP, it just takes a swerve in terms of intensity and tempo. Here, This Will Be Your Year and Stuck On You glide their sweet vocals around the sort of laconic jangled riffs that Dropkick have long since perfected, whereas The Way It Shouldn’t Be evokes the ambience and mental imagery of a young Michael Stipe staring wistfully  into the audience as he imparts Nightswimming upon them. All three tracks are just all manner of ‘plaintive sumptuous’.

I am not sure of where this act are going next as such accomplished musicians always seem to have a plethora of projects to turn to. I just hope there is imminently more !

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