16 - SWEET PILL - Where the Heart Is

A mix of power pop, emo and smatterings of post-hardcore, this is an excellent debut record. Where the Heart Is benefits from both being catchy – hum those choruses – and inventive (the time signature of the riff on ‘Dog Song’, for example, is… unusual). Sweet Pill have quite a distinct sound, with the dualling picked ‘mathy’ phrases of their two guitarists acting as the main focus of most tracks. The closest I can think of is early Foals, who also had a similar trick in their arsenal. Zanya Yousseff’s vocals remind me a bit of Hayley Williams from Paramore, albeit that the comparison between the two bands doesn’t go much beyond that. Admittedly, as with a lot of emo, the lyrics are sometimes a little bit too, well, emo for me, but that’s a hazard of listening to this genre. A stellar live album released late in the year, which showed off just how well they can replicate these tracks on stage, helped to cement a place for Where the Heart Is on The List. As debut albums go it’s pretty impressive.