Reviewed by: Dorothy Pawlowski

Published: 25 August 2011

ep: t-shirts fade

"T-Shirts" Fade by Two Way Radio is an offering of 5 tracks clocking in at just under 20 minutes total, which I guess makes it an EP. Preliminary research on Two Way Radio reveals they are an Adelaide-based trio of various origins with a standard live line-up of bass, drums and guitar, which orchestration is augmented for studio purposes with the addition of the keys apparently, although I confess to being unable to hear them anywhere (except maybe in the track 'T-Shirts Fade'?).  

The CD cover design is somewhat literal; a faded T-shirt hanging on a washing line which is also used as a background for the track titles on the back cover. Unfortunately, this makes them illegible and I had to check the track titles in my media player.

The EP starts promisingly with some punchy big drums opening the 2-chorder 'Dusty Ride'. This track is indicative of rhythmical things to come, featuring as it does the stabs that underpin the song’s structure; a technique that is apparent also in track 2, 'Forty Days', which song is more complex musically than 'Dusty Ride'. For this reason, I feel it would have been strategically better placed as the opening track, but it does lead quite nicely into 'Kids with Guns'.

The overall feel of the 3 middle tracks (including 'New Town Lover') is laid back and non-confronting, given they are all within a small tempo range and offer very few musically challenging moments. I believe this is what is called adult-oriented rock and fits in well with the band’s self-avowed interest in the area of “'90s Alternative Rock Groove”.

The performance throughout this EP is solid and the production clean, although the subtle positioning of the vocals within the mix, coupled with the vocalist’s relaxed Kurt Cobain style of vague enunciation, meant that I was actually unable to decipher a single lyric; a pity, as the band may have had something to tell me. The orchestration of all tracks is pretty much the same throughout, with equal prominence given to all the instruments.

The high point on "T-Shirts Fade" is undoubtedly the title track, and placing it last was definitely a good tactic. Although a similar tempo to the other 4 tracks on this EP, the final track has more grunt and groove, with acid rock overtones as espoused by the lovely wailing guitar lead. I felt that the fade-out came too early, both from a time perspective and a musical perspective. “Get into, lads”, I was screaming in my head, “Let go!” But they had already gone...