[$4 to Download // https://pillowtalktn.bandcamp.com/album/what-we-should-have-said]
"What We Should Have Said" begins with an instrumental song which is full of dreamy instrumental bliss and thundering bass. The next four songs all have vocals and seem like traditional songs in that sense. They at first reminded me of a cross between Blink 182 and The Beautiful Mistake, as I saw them as being somewhat post-rock, but I still couldn't quite put my finger on what this sounded like exactly.
I just knew that there was something in here that I was missing, that Pillow Talk had the sound of a band I had heard before but was simply overlooking for whatever reason. And then as I played the name game it dawned on me. I was drawn to The Early November for some reason, but this doesn't really sound like them but rather a band I saw play with them once-- Park. Yeah, these songs pretty much sound like Park. Is that good or bad? I don't know, Park isn't making new music as far as I know and they could sound like something worse (like The Early November)
I enjoy how the song "Room" is about his bed being big enough for two, as it plays into that idea of the band name being Pillow Talk, but I'm not sure they're doing themselves any favors with the line "Everyone is the same and I am no exception". While I agree with that on the whole of humanity too many other lazy writers will take it in reference to this music sounding like other music and they'll attribute it to a lack of originality.
These aren't the worst five songs I've ever heard by a long shot and no matter how much I can hear Park coming through they're still not a complete clone of one of my all-time favorite bands. Should Pillow Talk release a full length album one day (and I don't see why they wouldn't) I'd definitely be willing to listen to it as I feel that could be the push they need to really find their own sound and appear to me as something more than influences.
I overall just feel like Pillow Talk is a victim of circumstance. Imagine you have a pet fish or something and when it's first born it's in a small fish bowl. But as it grows, it needs a bigger fish bowl to accomedate it. Well, I just feel like Pillow Talk has such a big and vast sound that five songs cannot do it justice and it needs to be spread out over maybe thirteen or fourteen songs to truly be appreciated. Still, this isn't the worst EP I've ever heard and those maybe who don't share the same love/knowledge of Park as me will likely be blown away by it.
