Attack the Sound’s “Love is War: Packed” EP is… a thing. A Chi-Pop thing, specifically. Chicago’s own ATS is back, celebrating five years since the original “Love is War” single dropped, and they’ve decided to, well, pack it. Like a suitcase full of emotional baggage you’re not sure you want to unpack.
The central theme, in case the title didn’t bludgeon you with it, is that love is, apparently, a battlefield. Original, right? Actually kind of. Not in theme; thousands of songs deal with romantic strife. It’s in their sonic presentation. The band mixes some house and a load of soul that it somehow still sounds crisp.
ATS takes us through the wreckage of a relationship gone sour. Lyrics like “how did we let things get so strange” aren’t exactly groundbreaking poetry, but they hit. They thud, softly, like a velvet-covered brick. Ever tried to assemble IKEA furniture with a broken heart? Same vibe. The indecision (“running back and forth”), the ultimate retreat – it’s all there, served up with a side of sonic contradictions. This track, it’s almost soothing with how it tells you just how exhausting it is to love, the vocals sometimes floating and blending.
It’s catchy and complex, yet it presents it’s complexities plainly. It has, you know, layers.
Then, out of nowhere, my brain conjures images of medieval siege weaponry. Trebuchets, specifically. Why? Beats me. Maybe it’s the relentless, rhythmic pulse of the EP, mimicking the slow, inevitable advance of emotional doom. Or, you know, maybe I just need more coffee. The genre-bending, the “Chi-Pop” sound (is it official or are ATS simply its pioneers, its… astronauts?), adds this strange gravity. It’s familiar enough to latch onto and different enough to raise your head for a moment to really listen, like hearing “wait a second,” that thing in a conversation you nearly spaced on, but actually care about.
The music leaves you hanging, a little dazed, a little wiser, and pondering…is all fair out of love and war?
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