Speaker Speaker, We Won’t March

Speaker Speaker is a three-piece post-punk band from Seattle. The band’s style is very much within the ’90s post-punk template, but being in the tradition isn’t a bad thing if you make it interesting, which they do. Their take on post-punk features catchy songs that sound like Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker fronting Jawbox. On their EP We Won’t March, the band manages to be both tight and energetic. That can be hard to capture in the studio, but they pull it off.

It would be sad if the title song wasn’t good, but Speaker Speaker doesn’t disappoint. And it’s the title song for a reason — it was produced by J. Robbins, and it shows. It’s a catchy song, one of those classic statements of dissent that punks are so good at. So it’s also nice to see that they can also write songs about themselves; “Radio Days” is about music and ex-girlfriends, and it’s another great song, with some cool harmonies on the chorus.

It’s rare that a young band shows so much maturity and range in their songs right from the start. Considering that this is their first real album, it’s even more impressive. These guys definitely have a long career ahead of them.