Make Up Break Up's Scents

Make Up Break Up used to operate under the proviso of one synth for all but this Providence, Rhode Island group have come a long way since their debut EP two years ago. Taking all the success that they could muster with that record and channeling it into their new material led the band away from being a heavy synth reliant band and found them wandering around a far noisier territory than they've ever been before. It was such a drastic shift that the band seem like they were considering the names My Bloody Break Up or Make Up Valentine during the course of recording. Thankfully they chose to stick with the original and just sound as if they were drenched in sheets of feedback.

Known to the world as Scents Make Up Break Up's debut is a fantastic noisy record that embraces the idea that feedback needs love too. With cascading riffs resounding off the sides of speakers, and synths adding layers of sound to the already dense texture the band have created, Make Up Break Up have created something of a post-shoegazey, post-synthpop haze that's almost impossible to shake off. Scents is a great effort that, despite sounding as though it could shatter glass, has a strong sense of what makes a song, a song; you know hooks, riffs that amnesiac's could remember, lyrics that hit home, etc. For a band barely three years old, Make Up Break Up sound as if they've recorded their fifth or sixth album, not their first.

Swirly, slightly dark, and praising the gods of guitar and synth, Scents is a hangover sort of record that no matter how you try, you can't get rid of. But unlike your Sunday morning hangover, you won't want to get rid of this. Channeling early 90's guitar music and running it through the VHS or Beta meter of disco pop Make Up Break Up continue to impress with their songwriting and records. Scents is an impressive, seemingly short, debut album and something that's darkly delicious for your ears to devour.