Basic Vacation is a pop-rock band from New York City composed of three friends who have a passion for playing and writing music. Last October, Basic Vacation released their debut self-titled EP.

The EP was released through Atom Factory Music, which was founded by the pop artist Lady Gaga. Atom Factory Music has also released music by John Legend and John Mayer.

The first track, “I Believe”, contained very basic guitar, bass, and drum beats; however, that is exactly what made the song. It seems as if Basic Vacation wanted you to focus more on the lyrics than the instruments.

This was a song that most high school students could relate to with lyrics like, “I believe in me and you, no matter what they put us through.” This song was a story about two lovers that feel like they have the world against them; however, they are going to try and see their problems through to the end.

The next track was, “Jamie”. This song is hands down the best song on the EP. The synthesizer is kept in a consistent low tone which gives the song an eerie feel but, by the time the chorus swings around that completely changes.

The drums come in as the synthesizer stops and change the mood to feel upbeat. The band could have easily screwed this up by making the change to the chorus too mellow or too intense, however they nailed it perfectly.

With “Worlds Collide” the drummer takes a different approach than the other songs on the EP. Normally he keeps time with the snare drum, hi-hat, and bass drum, however here he keeps time using all of the tom drums which gives the song a booming feel. Then the chorus comes in, “I’m not searching for an easy way out.” This lyric will easily become stuck in the listener’s heads.

It seems as if there are a lot of new pop-rock bands nowadays, therefore the EP sounded kind of generic to me. If I were to hear any of these songs on the radio, I would probably skip them. That does not mean that Basic Vacation is not musically talented.

By the sound of it, Basic Vacation knows what sound they want, and how to achieve it. Their debut self titled EP sings about topics that many kids can relate. The album gets three stars out of five; it was impressive for a debut, but not something that I can see myself coming back to listen to. Be on the watch for Basic Vacation in 2014.