Colour Coded were always a good band but you felt that there was something missing – you somehow wished that they could find the songs and the confidence that marked the transition from good to great.
Colour Coded – with this EP - have made that transition.
All four songs here are indie anthems – not only anthems, but awesome anthems at that. Their ace in the hole is a vocalist who just soars, a voice full of strength but with a distinctive quality to it at the same time, capable of everything from warm emotion to taking off like an eagle in flight. Their other ace is the songwriting – they produce tracks that are powerful but in an emotional way rather than knocking you over the head with volume, tracks that just make you feel good to be alive – THAT sort of track. Yet the band is hot and the arrangements strong. It works!! The CD opens with “Same Mistake” as a rolling drum rhythm and rumbling bass pave the way to be joined by a clean guitar rhythm and then by this huge sounding electric guitar riff that positively sizzles as the track develops. Then the intensity lessens as the vocal enters, this warm sounding force of emotive yearning, and the song immediately wraps itself around your head and heart before taking off like a rocket into this epic chorus that can't help but carry you along in its wake. Yet at the heart of all this, too, is an edge, almost an anger, that really makes this sound forceful and absolutely on fire. The band drive through a heady series of rhythms, riffs and searing guitar licks as the solo and multi-tracked vocals make the verses as choruses and the choruses as hooks on a track that you'll be singing to yourself hours later. But if this is hot, then “Trying” is nuclear. Opening with a chiming guitar lead over driving bass and drums, the guitar hook is joined by another scorching guitar riff undercurrent before the almost menacing emotive vocals provide the potency that is the verse before it suddenly ascends to this almighty chorus that sets the hairs standing up on the back of your neck as you watch it climb and throw your hands in the air in a mix of not wanting to see it go and observing the sheer magnificence of the bird in flight. The guitars glide from horizon to horizon as the rhythms stride ahead and this awesome song embodies the sheer emotion that this band exudes – it's an absolute triumph of a track and one of the great Dundee indie anthems that any band's come up with to date.
“Before The Silence” shows that the band has not let go all its ideas on the previous tracks by opening with an almost accelerated Bo Diddley rhythm amid squalls of feedback guitar and then a burst of electric guitar flow as riffing heralds the arrival of a warm vocal over the less intense backdrop, the vocals multi-tracked for extra depth before, this time, the chorus is done initially with the solo vocal, joined by brief harmonies but largely kept solo, the twist from verse to hook so natural yet full of impassioned angst as the band light up with this solid sea of rhythmic thunder and searing guitar heat, unafraid, mid-song, to drop it all back down to earth before climbing back up on a wave of crashing cymbals, thunderous drums, pounding bass, seriously fine vocal harmonies and then moves completely out of sight as it suddenly ends. Finally, “My Legend” shows you that all four tracks are gems – this time a fast-paced shuffling rhythm allows sinuous chiming, ringing guitar leads to interweave on top as the vocal really takes off and this time there's not so much of a chorus, but decidedly a hook, as the song provides its angst-ridden lyrics with passion and emotion, and you just know that this singer's feeling every bit of it, as band and vocalist drive forward in unstoppable fashion on a song that powers its way into your heart, twisting and turning but never losing sight of its sense of purpose, direction and sheer dynamic strength. Just stunning!!
With four songs of this quality and recent incendiary live performances, the time is right for Colour Coded to be heralded as the next great band on the Dundee indie scene – the rest is up to you!!