Fans of emo music should give The Last Second Save a listen. They’ve been on the music scene for over a decade and their latest releases demonstrate mature musical chops.
During the last three years, TLSS have released an album’s worth of material. It was interesting to listen to their musical evolution in that short period of time. Here are a few standouts from that time period:
One Last Goodbye–a regret/break up song–marked a noticeable improvement in TLSS’ production quality. It’s a duet and one that would seriously be considered for radio play. Despite its theme, it has a positive vibe.
Paint It Red features a racing piano arrangement and a surprise genre blend halfway through. It’s overlapping lyrics are very non-mainstream and kept the song’s energy going.
Their latest single Baltimore is an ode to a broken town. Featuring an excellent arrangement and interesting overall message. My one minor technical critique, like Constellations, is that it needed some mix automation to really take the choruses to the next level. Despite that, I would stick this one in the “radio ready” top three.
Tremble – Another radio single contender. I was tapping my foot along to the choruses. Very nice arrangement. Catchy lyrics.
I Remember is another song that reflects on the past and hopes for a brighter future. It’s a positive song about a solid relationship, which many couples can relate to.
The bridge in Lonely Crowd is excellent. The song overall has a nice arrangement and the lyric “Save me from the man that I’ve become” belongs on a t-shirt. The pianist has some good chops!
Constellations – Hey, an acoustic guitar! This song got a lot more experimental during the mixing stage compared to older releases. It would have benefited from a stronger arrangement. It was a little chaotic, because it sounds “squeezed” in a few sections.
Miss Me When – Cool ballad. A positive, appreciation song about parents. A rarity in modern music. Would make for a good mother/son wedding dance song. I love the pounding drums during the crescendo!
Sound quality wise, all of the songs are very good for indie music. The mixes are clean, instruments have clear separation. Their mastering engineer(s) made sure to not chop off punchy transients by using tasteful amounts of limiting and compression.
The Last Second Save are currently active on the live music circuit. Check their schedule out here or here and watch their Baltimore music video below.
