Band of the Day: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – more affectionately and efficiently known as TWIABPAIANLATD, or just TWIABP – have a ridiculously long band name. It’s more a sentiment than a name and something more becoming of a song title, or a quote for the Tumblrsphere. The easily disgruntled will be put off from listening to TWIABP because of their name – it’s not exactly ‘user-friendly’ for web searches or file organising also – but I say persevere and hope they come to their senses and hold down backspace to the ampersand.

They should drop the vocals from their sound while they’re at it. There’s a lot work needed there. I’ve no qualms with praising the instrumental side of their sound but where the vocals are concerned, I’d suggest either an overhaul or a complete removal from the equation moving forward.

That being said, their debut EP Formlessness does grow on you in spite of this. It can’t help itself from being a charming grassroots release, especially during closer ‘Eyjafjallajokull Dance’ which – due to their polestar guitarists given pride of place on the six-minute track – is at times captivating. Follow-up releases to Formlessness offer no recourse to the raspy enervation crippling TWIABP’s otherwise alluring sound though. Sure, they’re a band which embody the spirit of the independent band with a sprightly innocence and wistful countenance, but their strength lies in the way they play and any vocal contributions right now hold them back.

I remain hopeful that as they mature they come to realise this. They’re a huge band – they list eight members currently – but they’re still relatively young and developing. For one thing, they still consider themselves to be an ’emo / indie’ band when they’re clearly far more than that. There’s mild improvement in vocals heard from Formlessness to latest EP Here To Help, but between the faint traces of needless screamo on ‘I Will Be Okay Everything’ and ‘Mega Steve’ and the scratchy young lead vocals still appearing prepubescent, it detracts from the intelligence of everything else.

There are a couple of tracks of TWIABP’s below, with the rest found on Bandcamp.

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