At a first glance, Paste’s 2013 release titled “…and the devil will come to you with an irish accent, telling you he loves you” seems to fall in line with all of the other pop punk titles that 2013 gave us (and what a year to compete with; The Wonder Years, Citizen and Into It. Over It. all released new music that other bands less well-known on Tumblr would have to compete with), but dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a set of five songs that are as compelling as any of the aforementioned bands’ records. The EP opens with an instrumental track, “Livid,” that is really just a long intro into “Relapse,” the first full song on the album. The melody in the first track is forceful, especially in the second verse. “Relapse” doesn’t romanticize the pop punk scene in the same way a lot of other bands do; Paste acknowledges that some people in that scene just plain suck: “And all of my friends, where are they now? / This scene’s taken everything from me.” The guitars at the end of the track are really what impressed me and kept me interested throughout the rest of the EP. The following song, “Maple,” almost falls in line with the old “I hate this town” trope; but that’s what the kids like, after all. The gang vocals leave opportunity for those kids to sing along, and that kind of connectivity with a band is what tends to make them popular, so it’s a smart move. I loved that the intro sounded like an old New Found Glory song, but the track didn’t impress me as much as “Relapse” did. “Pony Eyes” is faster and louder than the other tracks. It gives off a distinctly punk/hardcore vibe that the older crowd will probably appreciate. “Undo” follows suit with “Pony Eyes,” and the vocals in these last two tracks are particularly strong. “Relapse” and “Undo” definitely make me curious to see what this band does in the future, or how they sound live.
