Songs Of
The Story So Far / Songs Of / 2014 / PNE 148
I discovered The Story So Far my freshmen year of college when a lot of the guys in my hall were listening to Under Soil and Dirt. Being a big fan of pop-punk in that moment of my life it was pretty easy to get hooked on these guys. Spring semester 2013 came and with it the release of their sophomore album What You Don’t See. After countless plays of Under Soil and Dirt, What You Don’t See quickly became part of my daily rotation walking the campus of Millersville. I was hooked on the quick pace, raw vocals, and numerous breakdowns. Flash forward to the following summer, 2014. My buddy Tyler and I were back home and hitting up Double Decker Records (RIP - it’s now permanently closed) in Allentown and I came across their latest EP release sitting on the shelf - Songs Of. It’s a short EP that features mostly acoustic covers of select tracks off What You Don’t See as well as a new single and a cover. It became part of my collection that day and I still have yet to grow my Story So Far discography beyond it.
There’s something pretty intimate and cool hearing this band pick up acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and brushes on these tracks. Songs Of opens with a slowed down take on The Glass. With some more room to breathe, Kelen Capener is able to lay some upright style bass lines behind the clean. looped electric guitar melody. New single Navy Blue follows after which lets Parker share some pent up frustrations and anger towards a ex-lover - “Damn it’s hard to find sustenance when all I had was love for this, and now you don’t. Now I just abuse substances to drown out your accomplishments, however few”. This is a recurring theme throughout much of Cannon’s writing in following The Story So Far releases. The acoustic guitar melody throughout is simple but gorgeous. All Wrong transforms into 30 second solo transition for Bad Luck. I love Bad Luck on What You Don’t See, so I love this acoustic take - they even kept the breakdown in the outro. The EP closes with a rendition of reggae king Bob Marley’s Waiting In Vain. It’s a great cover that includes some tasty cajón from Ryan and the high flying guitar solo.
The Story So Far is pop-punk group from Walnut Creek, California consisting of (at the time) Parker Cannon, Kevin Geyer, Will Levy, Kelen Capener, and Ryan Torf. Songs Of was produced by Ben Hirschfield and Scott Goodrich. This pressing from Pure Noise is 1/5,500 on translucent kelly green, translucent yellow & translucent blood red stripe with black splatter. The 10” does not feature any lyric insert and instead has the lyrics and credits screen printed on the B-side.
