To me, cover splits have more or less gone the way of the buffalo in modern hardcore and punk. While there have been a few bangers released in recent memory, they are few and far between. Perhaps the general consensus is that a split where band A covers band B and vice-versa comes off as a bit hokey and trite in this day and age. However, Kingston pop punk juggernaut Title Fight and California screamo giants Touché Amore, along with Sea Legs Records, have gone out on the proverbial limb to test the waters of the cover split.
Side A contains Title Fight taking on Touché Amore’s “Face Ghost” from
the 2011 album Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me, released by Deathwish
Inc. The band takes the song and crafts it into a serpent-like shoegaze song
that would fit perfectly into a Title Fight set list, slinking its way through
the speakers. Bassist Ned Russin takes the lead on vocals, changing the
original vocal attack of Jeremy Bolm and submitting his own simple croon which
carries well with the chilled out arrangement by the rest of the band.
Side B is Touché Amore’s interpretation of “Crescent Shaped Depression”
from Title Fight’s 2011 Side One Dummy debut, Shed. Much like side A, Touché
Amore does a fine job of taking the song and turning it into its own. While a
bit slower and stripped down than usual TA material, the band keeps the song
light and really highlights the guitar leads throughout the two-and-a-half
minute venture. Bolm harshens up the vocals a bit, abandoning any melody laid
out by Title Fight in the original cut of the song, but that is what aids the
band in giving the track the screamo treatment.
While the release is short, almost hitting the five minute mark, the
gutsy move of releasing a cover split in 2013 has proven to be a success for
Title Fight and Touché Amore. Who knows, maybe more bands will take that chance
and release similar records in the future.
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