Hailing from Toronto, and having spent the last several years proudly cutting their teeth in the scummiest venues north of the border, The Reed Effect have been warping minds with their lyrics, shaking hips with their riffs and assaulting all five senses with an onslaught of progressively addictive rock hooks that pull from grunge, metal and blues. Having been tapped as support for bands like Jeff Martin of The Tea Party, The Wild and Die Mannequin, The Reed Effect have been leaving their unique brand of stinkface-inducing, schizophrenic rock lingering in the air of venues across Canada since day one.
When tackling the job of describing this 3 piece rock band from Toronto, it’s somewhat difficult to pin them down to a specific genre. The Reed Effect has a balancing act that borrows from a few different rock genres and even throws in a little jazz number just to make you rethink your final answer but even by the tail end of this EP titled “A Strange Curiosity”, one thing is for certain. It’s a rocking release and appeases both the nostalgic and the modern fan alike.
While The Reed Effect definitely has a grungey sound overall, especially in those dirty distorted guitar tones which gives the band that gritty feel, there’s a huge classic undertone sitting below all of it and it’s not that far removed either. “A Strange Curiosity” even kicks off with a grungey bluesy number in “Down In Here” where the song clashes both classic and modern styles but what really grabs you is the catchy Sabbath type hook which leaves you swirling the melody in your head for ages.
Early on though the EP does go in different directions, almost as if trying to find that direction it so requires which ultimately it does find by the end of it all. The journey really begins to take off with “Get In Line” which starts off with a funky bass line which that funk beat continues right through, more so in the drum beat than anything before switching gears into a short groove rock section. “Red Rover” however is something else, it begins fairly unassuming with a nice groove hook before this weird avante garde jazzy section jumps in out of nowhere. This left of field style weaves in and out of the verses briefly before trying to settle inside the solo section but honestly it’s a little off putting when sitting next to the cool guitar riffs that are displayed on either side of it. Maybe live it’s something quite interesting and maybe hilarious (I might be thinking Tenacious D’s Jazz album!) but otherwise I think I’ll move on.
And so, moving on the EP does take a turn back to more rocking stuff as the final 3 tracks all feature a combination of alt rock grooves, bluesy swaggers and post grunge with streams of melodic rock strewn about. It’s definitely a diverse EP and aside from a couple of wacky moments, overall a solid listen with some really killer riffs. It may take a couple of listens to really get the hang of it all but it’s definitely worth checking out nonetheless.
TRACKLIST
Down In Here
Get In Line
Red Rover
Leave It All Behind
No Way Outta Here
Still Want You
