Seven Years Behind’s new release, Failure Season, is anything but a failure.

After three years of inactivity, Seven Years Behind has this week released a new EP, Failure Season, with independent label and promoter, Doing Life Records. It is the first solo project since Too Normal in 2015. Seven Years Behind is a project that was formed in Liverpool 11 years ago by Simon Christopher, who is also the Doing Life Records label manager and founder. He has shared the stage with acts such as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., The Front Bottoms, Koji and more.

Failure Season is a 4-track EP that was self produced, written and performed by Seven Years Behind, with additional instrumentation by fellow Liverpool artist, Ed Poole, who collaborated on 2017’s Split. This latest release is a collection of emo-rock songs that balances strong and powerful guitar riffs and heavy drums in tracks 1 and 2, with softer acoustic ballads that really showcase the vocals in tracks 3 and 4. 

Seven Years Behind: Failure Season (Official Video)

In typical Seven Years Behind fashion, the lyrics have themes of self deprecation interlaced with concerns of lacking direction and other serious issues such as struggles with food and mental health. In the words of Simon Christopher, this record “deals with the concept of failure and what that can really mean to an individual”. My personal favourite track from the EP is track 3, 800 Calorie Deficit. I was taken aback by the raw and painful subjects covered in the lyrics that were delivered beautifully. The 15 year old inner emo in me was given vibes of The Used, Silverstein and Alesana, particularly from Christopher’s vocals. 

This record was a welcome piece of nostalgia, and I look forward to delving into Seven Years Behind’s previous work and hope this isn’t the last. This is not what I call failure. 

You can now stream Failure Season on all major streaming platforms, and grab limited edition merch bundles via https://doingliferecords.com/album/failure-season

Rach Hankin