Return For Refund
Return For Refund EP
(self-released)

Wailing, loud guitars and thumping drums inform the strut pop opener, “The Fields,” from Toronto trio Return For Refund’s self-titled EP. The shunky bridge works to slow things down, giving the bass some breath before we get Sasha Molotkow roiling with his lead playing.

“TV Light” moves even better with Karlis Hawkins’ snapping snare and Drew Clementino’s yearning love vocal growling. The riffs here are spectacular (Clementino and Molotkow play off one another perfectly) and the chorus makes good use of the vocal mix of all the players here.

A noisy guitar and low roll of bass and drum toms pushes “Between My Sheets” along, a song with a decided funk-meets-Pearl Jam vibe, with Molotkow riffing over the top and Clementino sounding quite different at times with a weird, warbled high vocal. The “heys” here over the wall-of-sound snare snapping progression is subtly dangerous and effective. I love how heavy this gets!

“Some Is Better Than None” has a good bass sliding funk too (again Clementino reminds me of Eddie Vedder in his shaking vocals here) in a song of the main character’s dissatisfaction.

The jaunty “Those Bombs” ends with pull-off, stop-and-go bluesy riffs and tight snapping from Karlis. This also might be Clementino’s best vocal here. It is certainly the most commercial of all the tunes, with its melodic chorus and Molotkow keeping himself restrained.

Check out Return For Refund, even with only this six-song EP, this band certainly has lots to say.