By Jonah Hoy
A little bit of girl power, heartbreak, and everything that's not nice. Wave Break's new EP Puzzle Pieces is a hard-hitting ghouling montra. Frontwoman Kelly Barber pulls the angst of an aching soul to touch on topics of existential frustration, broken hearts, and if closure means anything at all. A voice just as haunting as it is soft like a ghost singing the sweetest heartbreak lullaby. This tribute to emo/pop-punk and poppy melodies but hard-hitting guitar riffs mixed with screeching fills that pair nicely with Barber's hauntingly silky sound. The songs represent that inner struggle of dealing with the anger of not knowing who you are but trying to figure it out while someone breaks your heart into a million pieces.
She is playing a game of tug of war with her demons, and each song is a struggle between who will win. An aching heart with fast-paced, eclectic chords sends a rollercoaster of emotions where time seems to stop. Barber and Wave Break are encompassing something that has been touched on with other punk/emo bands, but Puzzle Pieces are the ghosts singing power ballads of a lost heart stuck in its internal struggles. Power chords that resemble a heart hooked up to an amplifier radiate every song.
Wave Break`s lineup had changed so much that eventually, Barber was the only one still in the band, but instead of calling it quits, she laced up her boots, grabbed a mic, and shouted her anxieties into a new EP. Her struggle as an artist can be seen with the anger and melancholy emotional manifesto she has put out.
Check out Wave Break's Puzzle Pieces and listen to Barber's story of heartbreak and staying true to what you want, even if it means you're all alone.