Soundboard

A Semester at Sea goes swimmingly

Ted Waldbillig |

The members of local Dashboard Confessional-inspired trio A Semester at Sea haven’t even known one another for more than ten weeks, but they’ve already recorded an eight-track EP, played an overbooked show at Oakwood Mall’s Hot Topic, toured Wisconsin and Minnesota for a week without the use of electronics, and hit #2 on Pure Volume.

If it sounds like more than just a fluke, it’s probably because of ASaS’ canny ability to wear the hip hop-est outfits for the emo kids. Whether it’s forlornly strumming acoustics to an Auto-Tune warble, or sardonically belting: “The playing cards are gone / But your poker face is on,” the band has ‘crossover success’ written all over it. Kyle Culver states in an email: “We’re just all about progress, really… like a ‘where do we go from here’ type of attitude.”

Prolific? Yes. Another EP is scheduled for release this December. So hopefully the band lasts longer than its name implies.