Cultivating a following for your band should be easy when you sound as good as SINKA. The alt-rock group self-produced an album last year, and are now heading out into the fold once more with Take Me To The Skies, a five-track EP that ties them ever-closer to their rock and roll stylings. They are strong stylings indeed, and should they continue on the same level of quality found in their latest tracks, then it should be a successful period for the alt-rock fans out there. They can cling to their hopes and dreams for as long as they like, but disappointment or disgust will meet with them sooner or later. For now, though, SINKA is doing a tremendous job of making sure such a stand-off is prevented, with a strong EP that opens up all the usual avenues of discussion.
Their title track, Take Me To The Skies, opens the EP with a strong blend of heavier guitar rock and a slower handful of verses that focus on lyrics rather than licks. The guitar riffs and all-out rock are reserved for either side of the track, bookends to a story crafted amicably well by singer Shaun Sewell-Sears. If we think back to the glory days of the alt-rock boom, few could be defined as deep and understandable storytellers. They made music that sounded good but offered nothing to those that liked a bit of wordplay or charm to the lyrics. Something deeper than the clumsy offerings of Nirvana and their impending grunge filth. SINKA have that blend of a strong sound and exceptional style, all of it necessary to bolstering the semblance of a story unfolding.
Tell Me My Name, for instance, sounds like a song of consequence and loss. It is a song that muses on the indecisions of its protagonist, whoever that may be. Alt-rock has wandered through the fog of innovation with little effect for the past decade, but SINKA has made their peace with that and offers up amicable tracks of effective, good-natured style. They are not boundary-pushing pieces, the repetition of the title track’s name on this second track leaves much to be desired, but at least the guitars underlining these moments are effective. Love, Love utilises this best. Do lyrics matter when the flicks and strums are heavy and engaging? Probably not, no, but it is nice that SINKA has offered the best of both worlds on a couple of tracks.
An EP should showcase what a band or artist has to offer, and that is exactly what Take Me To The Skies does for SINKA. They are polishing their finest offerings and presenting them as a taster palette for a new and, hopefully, wider audience. A strong selection of songs that provide an enjoyable listen, but also room to grow. Any artist must have somewhere to go next, something to cling to as they fashion out their sound and continue on. SINKA have that, but they also have a strong, dependable core that will offer out fashionable and interesting tracks.
