State Champs is a pop punk band from New York that signed to Pure Noise Records in the middle of 2012. Shortly after their signing, the band announced that they would be releasing a 7″ EP entitled Overslept near the end of the summer. Overslept is set to release on September 11th, and much like their previous release entitled Apparently, I’m Nothing, it does not disappoint. The EP opens with “Tonsil Hockey”. Although it’s a decent opener, the 40-second instrumental intro is unneeded on a four-track EP. The following track, “Critical”, comes in with a guitar lead that is very reminiscent of the one heard on “Closure” by The Story So Far. The track picks up as it builds up to the first verse. Soon after, it transitions into a fantastic chorus where the lyrics “We’ve been gone for too long to see this happen again/Then again, you’re too gone to say that’s not what you meant/You’re crying, I’m not trying/I won’t let this life get so critical” are heard. Next up is “We Are The Brave”. Similar to the previous track, it opens with a decent guitar lead, however, it doesn’t really pick up the pace much more. That’s not entirely a bad thing, though. “We Are The Brave” is pretty catchy and I find myself wanting to sing along “We would throw it all away, throw it all away” every time the track reaches the midway point.
The final track on the EP, “Remedy”, is my personal favourite. From the first note of the track to the ringing note at the close of Overslept, I always feel the urge to bob my head and sing along to every word. When “Remedy” was released about a month prior to Overslept‘s release, my (along with many other fans) expectations for the EP grew even more. Sadly, “Remedy” is the strongest track.
Overslept is a very solid EP, but there are a few things that I wish would have been different. First, the intro track should honestly not be there. It doesn’t do much for the EP except add an extra 40 seconds to the playtime. Another thing that I didn’t like too much is how “We Are The Brave” had an extremely long intro that seemed to drag on even longer than “Tonsil Hockey”.
Flaws aside, I strongly recommend that you check out State Champs and their new release, Overslept. Both “Remedy” and “Critical” are incredible tracks, and I hope that the band continues to write more songs like them on future releases.
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