Troubled Coast, a melodic hardcore/punk band from Bay Area, California, are a very good up-and-coming band that have already released a few albums. In 2010, they released 100 Miles From Home and in 2011, they released Letters. I’ve Been Thinking About Leaving You is their newest work of art, which is a 4 song EP that spans over approximately 20 minutes. The EP starts off with Patient Hands. I immediately noticed that the vocals and style of this EP are a lot like a combination of Touché Amoré and La Dispute. Their other albums are also similar, but this one seems even more reminiscent of both of the aforementioned bands. There are some melodic guitar leads in this song, the bass is fantastic, and the screams (I guess you could call them that, even though they are kind of a mix of talking and screaming) are great. There is also a chorus that has a very strong alternative rock vibe to it. Surprisingly, it fits with the rest of the song quite well. The second track, I’m Still A Loner, Dottie, starts off slowly. The intro in this song is one of my favourite parts on the EP because it begins with just the sound of lonely drums, but the guitar slowly starts to fade in. The chorus in this song is great and the leads over-top of it are perfect. Troubled Coast just exudes passion from every orifice and it really shows in this song. Next up is La Jetee. This is definitely my personal favourite on I’ve Been Thinking About Leaving You. It starts off with a really bass-y intro and talking in the background and then the leads present themselves. This song features yet another really good chorus – probably the best one on the EP! In La Jatee, I also noticed that the clean vocals are pretty low tone for the most part and that really separates Troubled Coast from some other melodic hardcore bands that add high-pitched post-hardcore-styled cleans. My favourite part in La Jatee is the last half of the song. “Take your peacetime love and marry her” has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard that part. The lead guitar near the end of the song is by far the best part on the EP though. It’s beautiful. The last track on the EP is The First Night Of The New World. This is probably my least favourite song, but I still like it quite a bit. It just seems to drag on near the end and that’s probably the main factor of why I don’t like it as much as any of the others. My one complaint with this EP is that as I listened to it more, I began to notice that it sounds very similar to La Dispute at times. However, I’m not saying that this is something that you should disregard and not listen to, because of the similar sound of La Dispute. Personally, I think Troubled Coast pulls off that style better than La Dispute does.
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