3 out of 5

Label: Deathwish

Produced by: Simon Askew

Touché Amoré is not a band that tends to litter their albums with a lot of production flash, but still, it’s satisfying that their in-studio power can be replicated pretty exactly live, as these 4 BBC radio cuts display full-force the intensity of these tunes, and how well the band’s performance holds up.

The flip-side of that, though, is that there’s not much of a selling point to these songs besides that confirmation: they are pretty album accurate, and though production on their original sources may not be a ton of bells and whistles that we directly hear, I’d say the album / single versions of the songs are a lot better on those sources, where mixing helps bring out all aspects of the band for maximum impact.

The selection of tracks are good, with the B-side, for me, winning out with more of that early meWithoutYou hardcore punk / emo the group trades in, giving them room to build up to some very visceral conclusions. The A-side is more Deathwish-y – i.e. more punk than emo – but backup track Gravity, Metaphorically (from another 7″ single, the rest from ‘Is Survived By’) is a little weaker, as its attempted transition between those two styles is kind of weak, and leaves the track on a less-satisfying note.

So, ultimately: no new material, and preferred in its original form, but definitely a testament to the band’s hard-hitting chops and abilities.