 
New York pop-punkers State Champs are set to release
a brand new 7 track EP called ‘The Acoustic
Things’ on the 6th October through Pure
Noise Records, the EP features 5 re-worked versions
from their critically acclaimed debut album ‘The
Finer Things’ as well as 2 brand new tracks.
Anyone who has checked out State Champs on the
live circuit or listened to their debut album
‘The Finer Things’ will know exactly
how energetic the band are and how much passion
and energy they put into each and every song and
each and every live performance, and that is why
I find ‘The Acoustic Things’ to be
an very important release for the band as it sees
them in a more natural stripped down environment
where the band get to wear their hearts of their
sleeves and really show off their more serious
and mature side.
The EP kicks off with ‘Elevated’ a
song which was originally released as a single
back in the summer of 2013 and also happened to
be the punk rock anthem of the summer for so many
people due to its bouncy nature and massive in
your face catchy vibe, however with the acoustic
offering things are more serious sounding as everything
is stripped down and unplugged sounding and it’s
so good to compare both versions of the songs
as they are equally as important and great sounding
but in totally different ways.
Despite being stripped down and acoustic ‘Deadly
Conversations’ still remains some of the
energy and passion from the original and Derek
Discanio’s sound that little bit more gravelly
and raw sounding in places which works perfectly
with the acoustic surroundings.
The acoustic offering of ‘Simple Existence’
is pretty damn beautiful sounding, whilst ‘Easy
Enough’ is another a great song full of
passion and gang vocals which work so well in
its acoustic setting. ‘Leave You In The
Dark’ is the first of the new tracks on
the EP and it a pure chilled out song and happens
to feel a lot more real and chilled than any other
song on the EP and I guess that is because it
was originally written for the acoustic environment
unlike 5 of the songs on the EP.
The EP closes with ‘If I’m Lucky’
which happens to be the second out of the two
new songs, and it is a great song, a song which
flows ever so well and features some of the most
passionate vocals ever from Derek Discanio, really
sweet acoustic guitar sounds, claps and so much
more.
It’s always good when a full on energetic
pop-punk band decides to go down the acoustic
route as pop-punk and acoustic music seems to
go hand in hand and it is always good to see that
more serious side of a band and I feel that State
Champs have done a fantastic job with ‘The
Acoustic Things’ as they have managed to
strip down some of their most loved songs to perfection
whilst also writing a couple of new acoustic classics.
4/5
Review by Trigger
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