First impressions are thus - this EP is excellent. It has huge, sing-along lyrics in the choruses, attractive beats aplenty in the verses to make a listeners head bop in an appreciative way and catchy guitar riffs, dynamic enough to make anyone sit up and take notice throughout the lot. From this, it can be said that Riptide look set to be one of the most popular and unique bands to have come out of the North of England in a long time.

In more depth, it’s catchy, jumpy, upbeat and energetic pop-rock music, the sort of music that one finds themselves singing along to even if they don’t fully know the words. It uses rock aspects fused with the more uplifting sounds of orchestral strings and echoing, reverb effects on the guitars and vocals to give it more depth than average rock music, and this makes it slightly different and gives it some more unique aspects that are pleasing to the ear. It has all the catchiness and energy of rock music, and the elevating aspects of more electronica/pop music to create something original and innovative.

The clear use of strings is also very prominent throughout this EP. It helps add to the size of the music, helps to make it unique and makes it sound like it’s designed to be played in a stadium. Maybe Riptide have ambitions of grandeur, and are pre-emptively creating music that will fit into the huge arenas they want to play in. Or maybe they just like to write and play big sounds. Either way, it works.
The only major problem is that it’s too short. Because of its length, it seems like the EP doesn’t really go anywhere. That is to say, if there were more of it, it might seem a little bit more progressive from start to finish, rather than just a collection of songs that have been put together with no other thought in mind.

The only other problem, other than its length, is the slight overuse of effects. It can, on occasion, distort the rest of the sounds, especially when there is echo on all the aspects of the music – the guitars, bass and the vocals. It does mean that the sound kind of merges into one huge-sounding, echoing mass, which may indeed be the effect that Riptide were going for, but it may be something for them to watch out for. By contrast, and as an upside, the use of the echoes and effects does indeed end up setting Riptide apart from other indie-rock bands and makes them slightly more unique. It also adds to the size of the music, again giving the impression that this music is designed for stadium-based play.
Judging from the quality of this EP, then, 2012 indeed looks like it could be a big year for Riptide. Now they just need to hurry up and write more, record more and play more. It easily deserves a good 7/10, and with more it might even be higher.