One Eleven Archer

Here's the best thing about reviewing a great EP versus a full-length LP; on a great EP like this one from One Eleven Archer, you can give each track the attention it deserves, as it's only a handful of cuts. Kicking off with the frantic "Distractions," the post-punk quartet waste no time digging hooks into your ears, centred around sharp guitar shards. As the title implies, "Building Blocks" is built on an insistent beat carrying you towards an excellent bridge. The bass line takes the spotlight in "thirty" before some more great guitar interpplay leads up to a gang of whoa-oh voclas in the chorus. The band lets a little more melodic jangle shine through on "Chalk Outlines," but it's on this track that the clarity of Jesse Gander's production is most evident. "Car Accidents in Taxis" again shows OEA's great guitar interplay and finishes the EP on a great cliffhanger ending. All in all, the five songs make for an impressive, inventive debut, and hint at great things to come.

-Bill Stuart - Monday Magazine

It wasn't that long ago that I reviewed One Eleven Archer's debut EP and I'm still getting plenty of play out of that release. So, my ears were certainly pleased with the arrival of the quartet's full-length follow 'Familiar Highs.' And those highs I got from listening to the first EP are back, but this time with even sharper hooks digging themselves in and urgent dueling vocals rising over solid, unrelenting rhythms. And even though I myself often get frustrated with the continual compartmentalizing of music into minute genres, the post-punk and post-hardcore tags are perfect for OEA, as the band blend pretty much every touchstone that made those genres so great in the first place, but improve on those building blocks (to borrow a phrase from OEA's debut) in their own way.
-Bill Stuart
- Monday Magazine

'Editors Pick!' On their 10 song full-length debut, this Canadian post-hardcore (don't place too much emphasis on that label) four piece connect and cultivate, expanding a complex rock sound and transporting to a place that most bands only aspire to reach. Their loosely harmonized vocals slam into each other, crying out over slightly math-rock rhythmic shards that aren't boisterous or flashy, just straight ahead and sensibly contextual. Driven by steady beats that can often quickly jut off or pull back, the attention to detail in the songwriting here is surprisingly loose and effortless, allowing these tracks to remain unassuming in their underlying complexity. The same logic seems to be applied to the lyrics, which match the music in their slightly subdued but ultimately effective content and delivery. While the two vocalist approach and some of their lyrics ("liberty is falling because convenience is stalling") certainly merit comparisons to Fugazi, these guys are clearly on their own in their sparse and unorthodox use of abstract harmony and raw but melodic delivery. Bottom line, this is smart rock with songs that are well crafted and challenging in all the best ways. Fans of bands like Hot Water Music and Sweep The Leg Johnny will want to check this out for sure.

-Brad at CD Baby - CD Baby