EP REVIEW: Pretty Sure – Places You’ve Been.

‘…absolutely essential listening for emo fans, demonstrating the skills of a band with a remarkable knack for creating cathartic anthems…’

Heralding from the emo capital itself, Michigan’s Pretty Sure have been releasing music since 2023, with their debut full-length ‘Too Early To Tell’ arriving in August 2024. The band have since become a prolific name on the Midwest’s live circuit, performing across the likes of Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois. Following on from two singles last year, March saw the band compiling these releases with five brand new tracks in the form of their ‘Places You’ve Been.’ EP.

Delightfully scrappy, noodling guitar licks dance atop of buzzing riffs, whilst rhythms carve out infinitely infectious grooves. Vocals alternate between bittersweet melodies, punchy shouts, and raucous gang vocals, barely maintaining a sense of control as the band leap from one sad boy summer anthem to another with reckless abandon. The titular opening track sets the pace and tone perfectly, and never once does this EP let up.

‘Wishing Well (Murakami & The Infinite Sadness)’ is a breezy number that toys with skate punk ideas, dominated by a sharp and well implemented lead guitar performance. ‘Parking Ticket’ is a darkly fun listen that captures perfectly the sentiment of death by a thousand cuts, the delightfully bitter vocals are delivered atop of an instrumental that sparkles with a muted melancholy. The band’s capacity for capturing dejection, longing, and self-loathing is genuinely impressive; any emo band can write about such emotions, but few can capture it so accurately.

Having a song entitled after a Family Guy quote as a contender for Song of the Year 2026 would not have made it onto the Vinyl Fantasy Reviews Bingo Card, but ‘Brian, Look Out!’ is a genuine emo masterpiece. The bitter self-deprecation of this anthem for the black sheep of the family cuts straight to the bone, as the band sing of self-destruction and self-loathing. The bass on this track is wonderfully executed, driving the track forwards with relentless intensity, matched in fury by a simply superb vocal performance. The bridge is frankly shiver-inducing, as a discordant mess of noise trembles beneath lightning strikes of call-and-response vocals.

‘Places You’ve Been.’ is a solid body of work that is absolutely essential listening for emo fans, demonstrating the skills of a band with a remarkable knack for creating cathartic anthems. It is baffling that the band have yet to be truly celebrated and adored by the scene, because with a release like this, they undeniably deserve it. We will be revisiting this body of work for the 2026 Song of the Year listings, so do your homework.

RATING: 79/100

For Fans Of: Modern Baseball, Arm’s Length, saturdays at your place, Carly Cosgrove

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Bandcamp