Rich

Hailing from Brighton but with a frontman that’s made in Minnesota, As It Is are a fantastic up and coming pop-punk band that have achieved a great deal in the less than two years that they have now been in existence. Having a singer with a Youtube following in excess of over 200,000 subscribers certainly hasn’t hurt the band’s cause, the fact that they’re also an excellent bunch of musicians with a fine knack for crafting catchy pop-punk is surely what seals the deal for them though, and ‘This Mind Of Mine‘ is a release that certainly showcases just how far this band have come, an EP that is incredibly tight throughout and always complete with a huge amount of energy.

With the entire EP clocking in at less than 15 minutes in length, As It Is make full use of every minute that they have available to them here, hitting you with their self-doubt and insecurity right from the off, pulling you in with their infectious lyrical lines and impressively tight instrumental talent. ‘Bitter Broken Me‘ provides a strong start to the release, it’s when Patty Walters belts out “I just wanna believe in something” in second track ‘Horoscopes‘ that you get a real sense of just what this band could go on to become, however, with the track sounding absolutely huge and providing fierce competition for some of pop-punk’s biggest hitters. Listening to ‘Horoscopes‘ for the first time reminded me of first hearing Fall Out Boy’s ‘Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy‘ all those years ago and knowing right in that moment that the track was going to be a huge success; that gut feeling that you’ve just heard something with a huge potential to absolutely explode, and holding an overwhelming sense of hope that the track receives the widespread acknowledgement that it so richly deserves.

Following on from ‘Horoscopes‘ with ‘Can’t Save Myself‘, As It Is once again impress here with another track that showcases a strong knack for songwriting and an absolutely incredible vocal formula. Patty Walters and Benjamin Biss bounce off one another exceptionally here, with their contrasting vocal styles sounding absolutely superb and really making the track stand out strongly on the EP. Walters and Biss have a fantastic vocal partnership throughout, ‘Can’t Save Myself‘ certainly seems to capture the pair at their very vocal best though, with both musicians sounding incredible on this one and providing another supremely memorable offering of music.

Bringing the EP to its conclusion, ‘Relive This Story‘ is pretty much everything that you expect from a pop-punk closing track, ending things on a lighter, more melodic note whilst still maintaining an incredibly catchy and impressive chorus. Contrasting quieter moments with more explosive blasts, ‘Relive This Story‘ ends the EP on a very impressive note, showcasing something a little different, but with the band still very much coming up trumps. The ‘This Mind Of Mine‘ EP may be less than 15 minutes long, but despite its short length it still feels absolutely complete and ‘Relive This Story‘ provides the very satisfying conclusion that the release certainly deserves.

In four tracks the band most definitely hit all the right notes here and have put together an incredibly impressive EP that definitely packs a mighty punch. Not just riding on the coattails of their Youtube famous singer, As It Is are a very talented pop-punk band that absolutely demand to be listened to; they wear their pop-punk influences on their sleeve and are an incredibly tight and talented group of musicians. ‘This Mind Of Mine‘ is a high energy, hugely high quality EP from a fantastic Brighton based band with an excellent American singer. If you’re a pop-punk fan and haven’t yet heard As It Is, make it your mission to do so as they really do have a great talent for what they do and a fine art for penning a highly infectious pop-punk song.