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Trip to New York - Force, Despair and Confidence

The charts, music channels and radio stations are absolutely crawling with cringey, lovey-dovey crap from the likes of One Direction and unbearably cheesy X Factor winners. It's nice to indulge in a moody band every once in a while just to keep a firm hold of your sanity. This can certainly be achieved by listening to Trip to New York's debut EP, Force, Despair and Confidence. The German quintet only formed in late 2011, and have already played live shows on their home soil as well as recording their new material. Although it's a short and sweet affair (a mere three tracks in length), their musical prowess is packed tightly into each song.

Reunited delivers an onslaught of strong, scrappy vocals and rough, distorted guitar work. There are brief bouts of near-thunderous riffs, which are smoothly fused with some softer elements too. The dark, brooding overtones are mixed with fuzzy vocals, producing an infectious alternative sound. Our Time doesn't fail to deliver either, providing us with plenty of grubbiness and a modicum of softer undertones. Front-woman and lead vocalist Wio holds the sound together neatly with her gritty, raspy voice. The conclusion to this escapade, Break My Fears, is rife with rounded, mellow vocals and shows that the band can pull off a somewhat tamer feel without completely abandoning their dog-eared sound.

Trip to New York's tracks are far from the sugar-filled ballads that far too often invade our ears, and it's amazing to see another solid female-fronted band that can enjoy their own identity, free from comparisons to Paramore. The EP hints that they are a great live band, and I for one will definitely be keeping my fingers crossed for them visiting the UK and gracing us with a show or two. I'm sure their music will go down a treat with UK rock lovers.