The Station
Up From Here
self-released
It’s been so long since the busy signal has been part of everyday life that I question if that’s what it was even called. To clarify for youngsters, busy signals are the annoying, repetitive beeps you’d hear if you called a landline phone and its owner was either talking to someone else on the phone or the receiver was off the hook. It’s the sound that lets you know the person you’re calling cannot be reached. It’s also the first sound you hear on Up From Here, Portland rock band The Station’s debut EP.
That signal sets the tone for this five-song release. Up From Here is angsty. It’s punchy and quick and heavy and all the other things you want from emo pop-rock. Also like the busy signal, The Station’s sound is somewhat nostalgic, reminiscent of bands like The Used, Funeral For a Friend, and Paramore, or solo artist Avril Lavigne.
The Station is fronted by vocalist and songwriter Laura Cowie and features Dan Pelletier and Cory Helmick on guitars, Dave Lyden on bass, and Kris Landon on drums. They formed as a cover band and played a sold-out Emo Night at Portland House of Music before deciding to try their hand at originals. Up From Here was recorded and produced by Maine musician Dan Capaldi and mastered by Grammy Award–winning engineer Adam Ayan. Unsurpisingly, the sound quality and mixing are exemplary.
The opening track and single, “The Call,” is a highlight of the record. It’s a bitter, energetic breakup song. “Now it doesn’t matter what you do / this is last call for you,” Cowie belts over heavy electric-guitar riffs and crashing cymbals. In an age when so much rock music is overproduced, “The Call” is a refreshing nod to the raw, emotive origins of emo and indicative of the band’s potential. The following three songs are similar in sound and theme to “The Call” until we reach “Never Knew,” the final track, which is stripped down and slow and reflective — a welcome change of pace.
The title of the record apparently comes from a lyric on “Losers (and Lovers),” when Cowie sings, “Nowhere to go but up from here,” referring to her life post-breakup. Yet the title also describes the band’s sure trajectory: it’s all up from here for The Station.
