After the success of 2020’s ‘Party Food’, the indie-rock heroes return with a raw and honest offering in the form of follow-up EP ‘After Party’

After bursting onto the scene in 2019 with their honest lyrics and deadpan way of presenting them, the Isle of Wight foursome are only just getting started. With an EP of this quality at such an early stage in their careers, you can only imagine what they’ll conjure up in a few years.

Opening with fan favourite Can’t Talk, Won’t, a track that was released last year and is bursting at the seams with catchy lyrics that transport me back to being a child blasting Avril Lavigne on my hand-me-down CD player, they prove they aren’t here to mess about. This is definitely one to play loud.

Next up, Crying Makes Me Tired, starts off with the rather honest line “You’re a prick and I hate you”. I can already tell this one will be worth adding to the library. I mean, it’s certainly brought someone to mind… we can all relate this to that special someone, I’m sure.

Really OK on My Own instantly has me thinking of Lily Allen and the sound she became famous for, before exploding into a cacophony of lead singer Jess Eastwood airing all of her woes for us to hear, with the support of her bandmates raucous backing vocals.

On the next track, Everybody Hates Me, Jess shifts the blame to herself; noting all of the things she sees herself as, which unravels into a sincere display of realisation that sometimes it’s you that’s the problem. We’ve all had these thoughts and, supported by some notable work from her bandmates and their respective instruments makes for quite the sad girl bop.

And, if that’s not Sad Girl Bop™ enough for you, then i’m sad will complete the puzzle. Reverberating repetitive vocals makes you feel as if you’re in a packed house party and struggling to find the exit (look, if you’re claustrophobic, you’d understand). It’s simple but it’s executed to a tee.

The closer, Sweetheart, starts off a lot slower than its predecessors and teases a louder noise under the surface until two minutes in it finally boils off to reveal a statement of a track. It’s the perfect closer; garnering more and more noisy guitar and lyrics that refuse to sugarcoat.

If you’re sad, angry, a mixture of the two, or just enjoy really good music that’s been inspired by the likes of Wolf Alice and The Big Moon, then get yourself into gear and check out the incredible EP from Coach Party. How many times do we get DIY bands coming out of Isle of Wight?