I’ve been watching Set It Off progress and grow as a band since probably 2009, around the time that the “Baby Don’t You Tripijaharda” EP came out (I know they will kill me when they read this but hey, an EP is an EP). I knew that they always had an aspect about them as a band that was compositionally very different. They were a pop-punk band when I first saw them, taking after the likes of All Time Low and Mayday Parade in the neon-Glamour Kills era of the scene.
Since that time, Set It Off have grown into one of the musically advanced bands in the scene today. Vocalist Cody Carson is able to command a room (or a car stereo, headphones, speaker system) like no other, while guitarists Dan Clermont and Zach DeWall, along with drummer Maxx Danziger, drive the band ferociously through an advanced hybrid of orchestral-rock songs.
The guys are offering up a new take on songs from their most recent LP, Duality. This time, they’re in the form of an acoustic EP entitled Duality: Stories Unplugged. While many bands could potentially look at this as just “another chance for us to release our songs, but in an acoustic format”, SIO have taken serious initiative to almost completely restructure each track to fit an acoustic composition. The fact that some members of the band have classical music training seems to have greatly helped steer the direction of this EP as well (reference “Ancient History” and “The Haunting” for a better understanding.)
The standout here is their rendition of “Why Worry”. Imagine a pop-punk band, the Backstreet Boys, and members of a gospel choir all getting together and saying, “let’s write a song and see what happens”. The three and a half arrangement is what would more than likely come of that session, and the result is glorious.
If you haven’t been listening to Set It Off yet, then…well. Yeah. You should probably get on that. Right now.
This has been another Shameless Promotion.