SAINTE - Smile, and Wave (2017)
SAINTE, for those who don't know, is the side-project of the majority of the members from pop-punk band We Are the In Crowd, so basically every member of WATIC aside from the drummer (Rob Chianelli) and the co-lead vocalist/guitarist (Jordan Eckes), but you probably wouldn't guess that SAINTE is a side-project of the majority of the members in WATIC because there aren't any fucking pictures of SAINTE as a band, just the vocalist, Tay Jardine! Are these guys actually a band as a solid unit, or a backing band for Tay Jardine's solo career? You really gotta wonder.. Ah, anyway, this band is a lot like when you were a pop-punk teenager and then "matured" onto other music because you're, like, an adult, dude, and it's actually pretty amazing to see the incredibly vocally-talented Tay Jardine go from some spunky, charismatic pop-punk teenager to a popstar. As for what was better for her.. Who knows? Better yet: Who cares? With a voice like that, you could sing the dictionary and I probably wouldn't think twice about throwing $10 at you.
Honestly.. This music isn't -that- different than what WATIC went on to do with "Weird Kids", although significantly less dramatic (aside from the ballad "Lighthouse", but even that could've found its way onto that album, hinted by "Windows in Heaven") and more upfront about its sugary appeal, using keyboards/synths much more prominently than before, giving the music a real "You remember the '80s, yeah?" feeling without embracing it as tightly and close-to-roots as Carly Rae Jepsen, Paramore, etc, even if "Feels So Wrong" for some reason reminds me of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", I like it, but if we wanna talk about the real heavy-hitter on the album, it'd have to be "Technicolor" with its catchiness, sick bass-tone (kinda reminds me of Death From Above 1979!), memorable pre-chorus ("I'm counting -one- of the reasons -to- adore you, -three- words on my lips -for- you only".. Clever!) and a memorable synth-line that wouldn't sound too out of place in a more upbeat shoegaze song, I could definitely see it being a huge song on the radio if the band had a bit more exposure (read: $2,000,000 million dollars backing, as is the case for nearly every popstar.. Read up on it sometime), but the rest of the material on the EP sound like they'd at -least- make minor-hits on the radio, to their credit!
I only really have two points of criticism with this EP: Sure, the songs are all catchy, yeah, but in the case of "White Lies" in particular, it sounds like that chorus is all it really has going for it, and "If You Ever Feel Alone" sounds a bit too dramatic for its own good, without reaching the same heights that WATIC's more-dramatic tunes managed to grasp onto, so I guess my main criticism of the EP is that the last two tracks (out of seven) sound a bit under-cooked compared to the tracks that came before it (no matter how powerful Tay Jardine's beautiful voice is), and that the EP really probably should've just ended with "Lighthouse" to end the EP on a high note.. But hey, this is just the beginning, ain't it? New band, new chapter, kinda-sorta-new-but-not-really sounds to explore. Here's hoping that SAINTE puts out a full-length that'll knock me on my ass like "Weird Kids" did.
7/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
