Local Review: Last Response – Have You No Sense of Direction? EP

Last Response
Have You No Sense of Direction? EP

Last Response = AFI + Taking Back Sunday + Sunny Day Real Estate

Yes, I never thought I’d put AFI and Taking Back Sunday in the same equation, either, let alone Sunny Day, but once you hear Last Response, you’ll hear what I mean. Sanguine anthems saturated with big, juicy melodic hooks, reverb, choice guitar-plucking, perfectly-in-tune harmonizing and some punk overtones make this slow-paced emo offering palatable, with no annoying pretentiousness and whiny vocals to give your mind a nice case of shingles. For someone who despises emo, that’s saying a lot. Their big, washy-ish sound is probably due in large part to lead guitarist Gregg Hale, who used to be a guitarist in Spiritualized—(yes, that Spiritualized; he lived in England for four years in the late 90s). I’m excited about what Last Response will have to offer in their promising future. Don’t miss their CD release Oct. 29.