I Am Derek: Don’t let the name fool you. Nobody in this band is actually called Derek. The two-piece from Bideford is instead fronted by a guy called Neil, and released their latest EP, Zipped, in January – a very grunge tinted approach to indie rock that doesn’t particularly reinvent the wheel but offers an inoffensive 10 minute jam with catchy choruses and a very dirty production.
Opening with the title track, you’re immediately greeted by a filthy guitar tone that owes itself to the sludgier side of 90s grunge, before being hit with the strong contrast of frontman Neil’s strongly accented vocals, which sound like the sort of vocal delivery you’ll hear in many an indie band across the UK. It’s an odd conflict of styles but they seem to play off each other quite well, often allowing I Am Derek to drift away into instrumental tangents whenever they feel like veering off the beaten path. The contrasting styles are most apparent in “Rabbit”, with the indie approach muddied by the guitar tone and production. The strong chorus helps it become the album’s real highlight.
However, the problem with Zipped is that it lacks anything that’s truly memorable about it. Indie and grunge have been around for so long that you can mix this with almost any other release in any other genre and you won’t be able to tell it apart from the rest. Apart from “Rabbit”, nothing really stands out and the whole EP just sort of passes by without much notice. It’s all inoffensive and fun enough, but just feels somewhat bland and lacking in energy, more suited to just being background music. The ingredients for success are there if they can just rearrange and add to them in order to try and hit the right formula. By perhaps focusing more on the indie side of their music and improving the production of their next release, I Am Derek might be able to make that next step towards finding their muse.