The Tripping Souls

"While influences may come from the British rock and pop sound...they have a very modern approach."
-Record World Magazine Rating - 3 Stars - Record World Magazine

"Fans of British Invasion pop will find much to like here."
-The Noise-Boston

Don’t Waste Your Life

With their second release, these Brit-poppers, on their opening track, hit us with a Jam-like declamatory which resolves into a bass-laden guitar-o-rama with a heavy brontosaurus beat, ending with a neat organ fill. “Sunny Afternoon” continues with the heavy guitar-bass-drum attack, and the remaining songs proceed in crisp procession: a ballad; a space-rocker with trippy reverb; a doomy plaint; a Beatlesesque jangler; a serious love song; an excellent hard-charging rocker (“Mary Jane”); a poppy drone-inflected toe-tapper; a Hollies-like love-lorn rocker, and a sock-o-delic reprise. Fans of British invasion pop will find much to like here. (Francis DiMenno) - The Noise Boston

"a strange but somehow familiar fusion of The Beatles and Nirvana."

"...The Tripping Souls is an excellent debut from a talented artist. Give it a listen...score 8.0/10 - KURE MUSIC 88.5 Ames Alternative

"A punk attitude..." -The Aquarian Weekly

The Tripping Souls’ eponymous debut was influenced by frontman Paul Makris’ decade-spanning love of ’60s rock, which he listened to growing up, and British musicians like The Jam’s Paul Weller and Oasis, which he heard during his time in Europe. Because of this, the album genre-hops from Beatles-like simplicity and lightness to Britpop nostalgia.

The EP is only five songs and 20 minutes in length, but it’s entirely rock and roll. “Elevate” opens the album and immediately sets the tone for the rest. It consists of almost grungy-sounding guitars and urges the listener to improve upon themselves. The next track, “The Riverbed,” is completely different, with cleaner-sounding instruments and a more psychedelic theme, though the vocals unite both tunes. “Stand Back” is the most aggressive song on the record, consisting of a punk attitude and the lyrics, “Stand back! I don’t want you around.” The release even recalls Tom Petty with its smooth sound and theme of struggling through love on “It’s Changed.” The closer, “The Place That I Love,” definitely evokes Lennon and McCartney with its soft, upbeat nature and simple lyrics.

The Tripping Souls is a not a revolutionary EP, but it simply modernizes previous styles without causing a been-there-done-that attitude in the listener. The band takes many of the distinctive classes of rock music throughout the last 50 years and merges them into one enjoyable release. They have created a considerable debut.

In A Word: Updated

—by Claudia Morello, January 22, 2014 - The Aquarian Weekly

...there is a cool modernity about The Tripping Souls that blends well with its familiar feel. - WLUR FM

...reminiscent of the post-Nirvana mid-’90s scene with a hint of a ’70s Brit-pop-punk hybrid. It’s as if Makris reached back through time, grabbed tattered snippets of memory and wove them into song. - The Concord Insider

Narrow Road, does everything you’d want a rock pop track to do. It’s vintage sound inspires nostalgia as subtly overdriven guitar rings out behind the harmonies of the chorus. The percussive hits are precise and add great texture to the track itself. Simply, it’s solid rock number that stays true to it’s noticeable British roots.
-Indie, Bikes and Beer - August 30, 2013. - indiebikesandbeer.com