From the band Neon comes a four- track sample EP entitled “Hit Me Again” that combines punk and pop in a well-mixed fusion. None of the music is overly complicated nor is it overproduced. In some instances, there are some glaring holes in the production as the background music drowns out the vocals. There are several crackles in the music that denote that the recording equipment was less than professional. However, this does not distract too much as the 4 tracks does nothing more than wet the whistle for more from this band from New South Wales, Australia.
The highlight of the EP is the last song, the demo “Million Sons” which provides a trance-like guitar and vocal harmony. It starts out extremely slow and poppy but picks up. Topping out at 3:57, it is by far the longest song on the EP.
The rest of the EP, which includes the title track, “Dizziness,” and the other demo “He’s A Whore” do nothing to hide their influences such as The Smashing Pumpkins. The vocals screech over howling guitars in front of a steady, driving drum beat. The show signs of being a bit more on the pop side which is something that the Pumpkins avoided at all costs; almost to the point that they went out of their way to do something not pop (see “Thirty-Three”).
The band as a whole plays well together and shows that they can accomplish much in the music business. They do however remind me at times of The Music, a band that I did not exactly enjoy listening to but there is more of an upside here. The vocals scream a bit too much and the music can get repetitive, even for songs that do not even approach the four- minute mark. This is, however an EP and should not be judged as a major record release. The music shows enough promise that, given a professional producer and some proper recording equipment and time, Neon could create some good music and gain a decent following.
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