Over The Edge is a band from Bangalore who are joining the now sizeable legion of artists putting out their first releases in what is hopefully approaching a post-Covid world. They seem to have already got a lot of the ingredients right for this journey; they’re a three-piece (awesome), they take their cues from across decades of rock and its offshoots (again, good) and they make sure their writing is pretty solid (most important). Fine, whatever, rock isn’t what it used to be in terms of popularity, but this year has started to see a few artists trying their hand at it. Why? No idea, but maybe it’s that the people who were young and impressionable in TV’s last age are growing up now. Either way, this EP is pretty nice.

There are five songs on here. ‘This Is How It Starts’ is a pretty clear bit of Dave Grohl inspiration, even though it’s a minute long (you can tell with certainty the second the drums hit). There’s a strong groove on the tune, and that element gets developed a bit more on ‘3/4’. That’s much more on the melodic, emotional rock of the late 2000s, but it’s got a hell of a hook on it and some really nice guitar layering. ‘Retro Heartbreak’ takes it back to the 80s (a bit jarringly, maybe), with its sidechained synths and warm, woolly kicks. This is, well, about heartbreak, and the rather thin vocals are more at home here than anywhere else on the EP. The title track is something of an interlude; it’s just a roomy, big bit of ambience which sounds like a post-rock song is about to begin in about fifteen minutes (just kidding). ‘Sapphire’ is said post-rock song in spirit, at least. Sonically it’s a bit of a late 80s rock tune and a more modern slow, ponderous ballad. The guitars are very post-rock, of course, but they are supporting something a bit more layered.

There’s a lot to love on ‘If I Stay, Would You Run Away’. Yes, sure, it is a bit fragmented throughout; one might wonder if the band would have been better off sticking to a sonic narrative with such short releases. But they’ve gone the other way and shown us a wide range of stuff they can do, and that’s perfectly valid for a debut release. Turns out they can do more than a few things.

Check out the EP here.