Ee teams Sooyoung Park of Seam with Tobin Mori of Korea Girl (who the record label compares to Seam). So the hope of Seam fans like me is that Ee will be just like Seam only with a newer (more stable?) lineup. The first road block is the fact that Tobin Mori is the sole vocalist, so this isn't just Seam Version 2.0. Ee's first release with Park is a teaser EP, Tinyspot, to their new full length, For 100 We Try Harder (a pre-Park album is available under the name Ramadan on Sooyoung's Curry Records). The EP contains four songs: a demo version of "Tinyspot" from the new album, "One Less Year" straight off the Ramadan album, and live versions of two songs from the new album. "Tinyspot" seems like a good old Seam song. It takes a while to get going, but then fuzzes and fills out beautifully, mixing a slow, gracious melody with a jumpy, staccato one. The Ramadan song, "One Less Year," tries to be a little more pop and suffers for it, as the vocals are just off and the guitar adds nothing but rhythm. The song does get more interesting at the end, as atonal strings come in and counter the chorus of "I'm just fi-ee-ine." The two live tracks are instrumental and very rock and roll. The guitar part to the first, "San Jose," is a little dull, and the drums follow the most basic beat and are a distraction as they are so hard, they dominate the sound. The hard drumming continues on "March Of the Chogokin," however they fit much better here as the overall song is hard, loud, and noisy. A bonus track features a guy named "Karl" telling the band how they can make the band better by emphasizing the vocals so that they are more like his favorite bands Modest Mouse and Chokebore. Karl is a fool, as on this EP, the vocals mostly get in the way. While this release doesn't leave me excited for the new Ee full length, it won't keep me away either.
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