Timber – "Timber" 7” – Something Crucial Records

One of the most fun shows I’ve ever played was at a pool in Gaithersburg Maryland. The wonderful Ambrose Nzams (and Pat?) set us up with a pool and food and getting to see a group of very young suburbanites called Timber absolutely kill it was pretty awesome. I knew nothing about this band when we played with them, and I still don’t really know anything other than that I have this 7”, and a tape that is two other demos from 2007 and 2008. This record is five songs of “emotional” punk that came out much too late to be a part of the hip screamo scene of 2002, but was gone too early for the current influx of this genre. There are guitar heavy parts that would make Cap’n’Jazz fans swoon, there are a few faster punk parts, and there are catchy sing-along choruses on almost every song. All of the music on this is concise and well executed, which isn’t always the case in this genre. It’s also recorded really well, another thing that seemed to be missing from a lot of bands that played this kind of music. The drumming really makes a few of these songs. The track “Ritual Curse” is especially powerful because of the rhythm section. What would have been a song that had zero standout qualities ends up being mix-tape worthy because of the drum-heavy mixing.

I think that "sincerity" is often something that gets tacked on to shitty bands to make their inability to write songs excusable to young punks, but in the case of Timber I feel like I should actually say it: These almost cringe-worth lyrics actually seem sincere. The track “Youth Wasted on the Young” is the clear standout on this record, and its lyrics have a total sing-along-anthem quality to them. They sing about actual things instead of weird vague poems about leaves or bushes or anything, which is nice, and I’m impressed that a group of young people writing lyrics like this had the guts to print them in the insert instead of hiding them “artistically” in some distorted ugly photoshop botch job.
It’s a shame this band didn’t continue because while this is a pretty good record, it still feels like a record made by novices. It works for them, but with a few years under their belt I feel like this band could have actually been able to do more. The songs that are good on this record are REALLY good it’s just a shame that I’ll never hear anything else from them.   On the other hand, a band like this could have very easily become a boring rehash of a kind-of-alright genre, so it's possible that their demise was for the best.



I’ve said this before about bands on here, but if you know anyone in this band or what they’re up to now, please let me know.
“You say the youth gets wasted on the young well fuck you. I know exactly what it is I’m living through.”