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Music Review: T0W3RS, WYATT EP

It might be fall, but Carrboro’s T0W3RS is holding on to every last ounce of summer spirit with its effervescent latest release, the WYATT EP.

Frontman Derek Torres and company start things off with “Möbius strip,” a song full of robust, pounding drums and echoing guitar. T0W3RS wastes no time in memorializing summer, repeating lyrics like “This is my summer away; this is my time to go on.” Add a seamless transition into “Bounty,” the EP’s most polished track, and the band’s instrumentation fully crescendos, unified.

But the partially instrumental middle song “Draw?Fold” takes longer than necessary to emerge. While the dramatic synth lines at the beginning of the six-minute song give the record diversity and even an air of mystery, Torres’ vocals don’t kick in until the last third, partially causing the short, but sweet album to drag on for a while.

There’s revitalization found with “Ours,” where Torres, accompanied by Jacki Huntington, provides quirky, infectious vocals that again embody the pop/rock tendencies that draw listeners in. In many ways, it picks up where IF 4LL WE H4VE IS T1ME left off, but with less pensiveness, focusing on sustaining the energy of a summer past.

However, maybe autumn has chilled us too quickly, or we’ve surpassed our threshold of summery sounds, because the EP doesn’t quite achieve the balance it’s predecessor did. It represents pure, nostalgic fun that successfully excites, but for the time being, it might be a little seasonally out of place.

Yet if you’re looking for some quality pop sounds representative of an endless summer, you’ll quite comfortably, and happily, settle down here.

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